Pub Date : 2026-01-27DOI: 10.1016/j.pubrev.2026.102667
Sifan Xu
The purpose of the current study is to examine how stakeholders’ expectations of an organization vary depending on their role-based position, organizational familiarity, and sentiment, and how these expectations (mis)align with the organization’s core mission and institutional constraints. The study followed a participatory research design that involved a communication practitioner in the studied organization to examine how an organization at a public university balances competing priorities while advancing its mission of international education and development. Results of the study revealed that highly aware stakeholders focused more on core issues and stakeholders who showed strong sentiment focused more on peripheral, institution-level concerns that that often fall outside the organization’s direct control. The study identifies and theorizes these tensions and challenges through the lens of institutional logics. This study also provides a methodological roadmap for leveraging qualitative data in strategic communication planning.
{"title":"Mapping stakeholder expectations along organizational outcomes: How familiarity and sentiment shape core and peripheral issue priorities","authors":"Sifan Xu","doi":"10.1016/j.pubrev.2026.102667","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.pubrev.2026.102667","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The purpose of the current study is to examine how stakeholders’ expectations of an organization vary depending on their role-based position, organizational familiarity, and sentiment, and how these expectations (mis)align with the organization’s core mission and institutional constraints. The study followed a participatory research design that involved a communication practitioner in the studied organization to examine how an organization at a public university balances competing priorities while advancing its mission of international education and development. Results of the study revealed that highly aware stakeholders focused more on core issues and stakeholders who showed strong sentiment focused more on peripheral, institution-level concerns that that often fall outside the organization’s direct control. The study identifies and theorizes these tensions and challenges through the lens of institutional logics. This study also provides a methodological roadmap for leveraging qualitative data in strategic communication planning.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48263,"journal":{"name":"Public Relations Review","volume":"52 1","pages":"Article 102667"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2026-01-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146077088","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-01-17DOI: 10.1016/j.pubrev.2026.102666
Kayoung Kim , Se-Hoon Jeong
This study examines the protective potential of crisis-relevant ESG messaging during cybersecurity crises. Based on the attribution framework, Kelley’s covariation model, and Situational Crisis Communication Theory (SCCT), this research explores how different crisis types (i.e., preventable vs. victim) affect punitive opinions via responsibility attributions and emotional responses (anger, sympathy). We also investigate how the relevance of ESG information (i.e., crisis relevant vs. irrelevant) moderates this process. Findings from an experimental study reveal that preventable crises evoke stronger attributions of responsibility and greater anger, which in turn lead to greater punitive opinions. In contrast, victim crises elicit weaker responsibility attributions, greater sympathy, and consequently, lower punitive opinions. Importantly, relevant distinctiveness information (crisis-relevant ESG messaging) plays a dual role: it mitigates negative perceptions in victim crises (halo effect) but exacerbates blame in preventable crises (backfire effect). These results highlight the strategic importance of aligning ESG communication with crisis controllability and crisis relevance, offering practical guidance for managing reputation in the face of cybersecurity threats.
{"title":"The differential impact of crisis types in cybersecurity crises: The moderating role of ESG information","authors":"Kayoung Kim , Se-Hoon Jeong","doi":"10.1016/j.pubrev.2026.102666","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.pubrev.2026.102666","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study examines the protective potential of crisis-relevant ESG messaging during cybersecurity crises. Based on the attribution framework, Kelley’s covariation model, and Situational Crisis Communication Theory (SCCT), this research explores how different crisis types (i.e., preventable vs. victim) affect punitive opinions via responsibility attributions and emotional responses (anger, sympathy). We also investigate how the relevance of ESG information (i.e., crisis relevant vs. irrelevant) moderates this process. Findings from an experimental study reveal that preventable crises evoke stronger attributions of responsibility and greater anger, which in turn lead to greater punitive opinions. In contrast, victim crises elicit weaker responsibility attributions, greater sympathy, and consequently, lower punitive opinions. Importantly, relevant distinctiveness information (crisis-relevant ESG messaging) plays a dual role: it mitigates negative perceptions in victim crises (halo effect) but exacerbates blame in preventable crises (backfire effect). These results highlight the strategic importance of aligning ESG communication with crisis controllability and crisis relevance, offering practical guidance for managing reputation in the face of cybersecurity threats.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48263,"journal":{"name":"Public Relations Review","volume":"52 1","pages":"Article 102666"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2026-01-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146022884","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-17DOI: 10.1016/j.pubrev.2025.102662
LaTonya J. Taylor , Candice L. Edrington , Damion Waymer
In this study, we sought to provide conceptual clarity regarding topics related to dissatisfaction in the public relations literature. Specifically, using Herzberg’s (2008) two-factor Motivation-Hygiene Theory as the foundation, we demonstrated why it is important to address issues of conceptual murkiness in public relations research (and common human resources practices) surrounding the dissatisfaction construct. We do so by clearly delineating factors that lead to dissatisfaction from factors that lead to no satisfaction. As such, we propose that an overarching conceptualization coined Publics’ Negative Affect should be used to better represent studies in public relations that explore issues of dissatisfaction and no satisfaction simultaneously. Using the perspectives of 9 mid-to-executive-level African American practitioners, we explored the obstacles they have faced in the public relations industry and the possible effect of those obstacles on their or their peers’ decisions to leave the industry. We found issues related to the no satisfaction construct played a larger role in conjuring negative feelings toward the industry as opposed to issues related to the dissatisfaction construct. Implications for both theory and practice are discussed.
{"title":"Conceptualizing publics’ negative affect via the exploration of African American practitioners’ accounts of obstacles encountered in the industry","authors":"LaTonya J. Taylor , Candice L. Edrington , Damion Waymer","doi":"10.1016/j.pubrev.2025.102662","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.pubrev.2025.102662","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In this study, we sought to provide conceptual clarity regarding topics related to dissatisfaction in the public relations literature. Specifically, using Herzberg’s (2008) two-factor Motivation-Hygiene Theory as the foundation, we demonstrated why it is important to address issues of conceptual murkiness in public relations research (and common human resources practices) surrounding the dissatisfaction construct. We do so by clearly delineating factors that lead to dissatisfaction from factors that lead to no satisfaction. As such, we propose that an overarching conceptualization coined Publics’ Negative Affect should be used to better represent studies in public relations that explore issues of dissatisfaction and no satisfaction simultaneously. Using the perspectives of 9 mid-to-executive-level African American practitioners, we explored the obstacles they have faced in the public relations industry and the possible effect of those obstacles on their or their peers’ decisions to leave the industry. We found issues related to the no satisfaction construct played a larger role in conjuring negative feelings toward the industry as opposed to issues related to the dissatisfaction construct. Implications for both theory and practice are discussed.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48263,"journal":{"name":"Public Relations Review","volume":"52 1","pages":"Article 102662"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2025-12-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145790335","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-16DOI: 10.1016/j.pubrev.2025.102664
Sarah K. Maben , Jacqueline Lambiase , Rosalynn A. Vasquez
Researchers surveyed municipal government and nonprofit communicators (n = 195) to investigate their approaches to generative AI technologies in regards to ethics. The study aimed to discover challenges related to moral silence and how practitioners explored technology and guidelines for its use. Municipal government and nonprofit communicators reported on their AI adoption plans, usage, and ethical foundations. A nine-question Ethical Sensitivity Scale (ESS) was adapted for use (α =.85) in the survey, and the sample represented an ethically sensitive group (M = 4.32 on a 5-point scale). Findings indicate that 85 % of the communicators were using generative AI tools in their work as professional communicators, but were doing so with little or no training, planning, internal discussions, or ethical guidelines. Respondents’ highest concerns about ethics and generative AI (intellectual property, copyright, plagiarism, honesty, and accuracy) did not match the concerns they perceived as most important to their supervisors. A fifth even suggested that their supervisors had no ethical concerns related to AI. Practical and theoretical implications are explored, and a new model for ethical adoption of technology in public relations practice is proposed.
{"title":"Self-starters and lone rangers: Municipal government and nonprofit PR practitioners’ approaches to AI training, ethics, and policy-making","authors":"Sarah K. Maben , Jacqueline Lambiase , Rosalynn A. Vasquez","doi":"10.1016/j.pubrev.2025.102664","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.pubrev.2025.102664","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Researchers surveyed municipal government and nonprofit communicators (n = 195) to investigate their approaches to generative AI technologies in regards to ethics. The study aimed to discover challenges related to moral silence and how practitioners explored technology and guidelines for its use. Municipal government and nonprofit communicators reported on their AI adoption plans, usage, and ethical foundations. A nine-question Ethical Sensitivity Scale (ESS) was adapted for use (α =.85) in the survey, and the sample represented an ethically sensitive group (<em>M</em> = 4.32 on a 5-point scale). Findings indicate that 85 % of the communicators were using generative AI tools in their work as professional communicators, but were doing so with little or no training, planning, internal discussions, or ethical guidelines. Respondents’ highest concerns about ethics and generative AI (intellectual property, copyright, plagiarism, honesty, and accuracy) did not match the concerns they perceived as most important to their supervisors. A fifth even suggested that their supervisors had no ethical concerns related to AI. Practical and theoretical implications are explored, and a new model for ethical adoption of technology in public relations practice is proposed.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48263,"journal":{"name":"Public Relations Review","volume":"52 1","pages":"Article 102664"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2025-12-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145790332","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-16DOI: 10.1016/j.pubrev.2025.102661
Ivy Wai-yin Fong
How do companies manage conflicting stakeholder requests on controversial issues? To address this overarching question, this study analyzed responses to the Russia-Ukraine war of 1386 companies. The qualitative content analysis of 2294 responses identified four strategies varying along two dimensions (focus: advocacy versus defense; magnitude: extensive versus reserved). The subsequent quantitative analysis of 1366 first responses to the war revealed that organizations from diverse backgrounds adopted various strategies. Extensive Defense was the most common strategy in the first responses, with a defensive focus particularly evident in some business-facing industries, such as industrials. Incorporating the lenses of Corporate Social Advocacy (CSA) and Social License to Operate (SLO), the findings show how companies navigate conflicting stakeholder requests by aligning with supportive stakeholders or minimizing dissent to secure broader acceptance. The integration of the CSA and SLO approaches broadens the stakeholder management narrative to address an increasingly diverse and complex global stakeholder landscape.
{"title":"Synthesizing advocacy and social license seeking strategies in stakeholder management: A content analysis of corporate responses to Russia-Ukraine war","authors":"Ivy Wai-yin Fong","doi":"10.1016/j.pubrev.2025.102661","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.pubrev.2025.102661","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>How do companies manage conflicting stakeholder requests on controversial issues? To address this overarching question, this study analyzed responses to the Russia-Ukraine war of 1386 companies. The qualitative content analysis of 2294 responses identified four strategies varying along two dimensions (focus: advocacy versus defense; magnitude: extensive versus reserved). The subsequent quantitative analysis of 1366 first responses to the war revealed that organizations from diverse backgrounds adopted various strategies. Extensive Defense was the most common strategy in the first responses, with a defensive focus particularly evident in some business-facing industries, such as industrials. Incorporating the lenses of Corporate Social Advocacy (CSA) and Social License to Operate (SLO), the findings show how companies navigate conflicting stakeholder requests by aligning with supportive stakeholders or minimizing dissent to secure broader acceptance. The integration of the CSA and SLO approaches broadens the stakeholder management narrative to address an increasingly diverse and complex global stakeholder landscape.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48263,"journal":{"name":"Public Relations Review","volume":"52 1","pages":"Article 102661"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2025-12-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145790334","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-13DOI: 10.1016/j.pubrev.2025.102663
Mensur Zeqiri
This study explores the significance of assurances in fostering trust and satisfaction in government-community relationships within the Republic of North Macedonia. Using qualitative in-depth interviews with Albanian citizens and civil servants, the research investigates perceptions of assurances and their impact on relational outcomes. The findings reveal low levels of assurances perceived by Albanian citizens and civil servants, highlighting barriers such as limited jurisdiction, political constraints, and insufficient professional engagement. The study underscores the need for two-way symmetrical communication and responsive governance to improve relational quality outcomes. Recommendations for enhancing trust and satisfaction through targeted relationship cultivation strategies are provided.
{"title":"The assurance effect: Enhancing trust and satisfaction in government–community relationships","authors":"Mensur Zeqiri","doi":"10.1016/j.pubrev.2025.102663","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.pubrev.2025.102663","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study explores the significance of assurances in fostering trust and satisfaction in government-community relationships within the Republic of North Macedonia. Using qualitative in-depth interviews with Albanian citizens and civil servants, the research investigates perceptions of assurances and their impact on relational outcomes. The findings reveal low levels of assurances perceived by Albanian citizens and civil servants, highlighting barriers such as limited jurisdiction, political constraints, and insufficient professional engagement. The study underscores the need for two-way symmetrical communication and responsive governance to improve relational quality outcomes. Recommendations for enhancing trust and satisfaction through targeted relationship cultivation strategies are provided.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48263,"journal":{"name":"Public Relations Review","volume":"52 1","pages":"Article 102663"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2025-12-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145790333","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-09DOI: 10.1016/j.pubrev.2025.102660
Mónica Arzuaga-Williams , A.Banu Bıçakçı , Ana María Suárez-Monsalve , Renata Matkevičienė
This study examines the understandings of social impact and social value by public relations/communication practitioners, educators, and academics in four developing countries: Ecuador, Lithuania, Türkiye, and Uruguay. As organizations face increasingly complex challenges, public relations/communication professionals play a critical role in society. However, there remains a lack of clarity regarding the definitions of social impact and social value. This research utilizes open-ended responses to a global Delphi study. In exploring how these concepts are understood, this paper also identifies similarities and differences among them. These discrepancies underscore the need to establish common definitions for social impact and social value to guide public relations/communication practices, while still allowing for contextual adaptations that ensure integration in different countries. The findings provide evidence associated with the relational approach to social impact. However, this approach is still not fully integrated into public relations/communication practices in the studied countries, particularly its key factor, stakeholder involvement in defining social impact, and the conceptualization of social value from the stakeholders' perspective. This research contributes to the development of public relations/communication by clarifying how practitioners, academics, and educators in diverse socio-cultural contexts define and apply social impact and social value. It highlights the need for a more stakeholder-centered approach and calls for greater integration of social value frameworks into public relations/communication practice. These insights can inform future research and professional strategies to enhance the role of public relations/communication globally.
{"title":"Social impact and social value in public relations/communication: An international analysis for a conceptual framework","authors":"Mónica Arzuaga-Williams , A.Banu Bıçakçı , Ana María Suárez-Monsalve , Renata Matkevičienė","doi":"10.1016/j.pubrev.2025.102660","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.pubrev.2025.102660","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study examines the understandings of social impact and social value by public relations/communication practitioners, educators, and academics in four developing countries: Ecuador, Lithuania, Türkiye, and Uruguay. As organizations face increasingly complex challenges, public relations/communication professionals play a critical role in society. However, there remains a lack of clarity regarding the definitions of social impact and social value. This research utilizes open-ended responses to a global Delphi study. In exploring how these concepts are understood, this paper also identifies similarities and differences among them. These discrepancies underscore the need to establish common definitions for social impact and social value to guide public relations/communication practices, while still allowing for contextual adaptations that ensure integration in different countries. The findings provide evidence associated with the relational approach to social impact. However, this approach is still not fully integrated into public relations/communication practices in the studied countries, particularly its key factor, stakeholder involvement in defining social impact, and the conceptualization of social value from the stakeholders' perspective. This research contributes to the development of public relations/communication by clarifying how practitioners, academics, and educators in diverse socio-cultural contexts define and apply social impact and social value. It highlights the need for a more stakeholder-centered approach and calls for greater integration of social value frameworks into public relations/communication practice. These insights can inform future research and professional strategies to enhance the role of public relations/communication globally.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48263,"journal":{"name":"Public Relations Review","volume":"52 1","pages":"Article 102660"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2025-12-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145737017","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-09DOI: 10.1016/j.pubrev.2025.102659
Laura L. Lemon, Martina Topić-Rutherford, Claudia Bawole
This study explores how sharing a meal with colleagues during work hours may impact employee engagement for people who practice public relations. Food serves as an opportunity to highlight the various places that informal, coworker communication occurs across the organization and how these exchanges constitute employee engagement. Through 21 in-depth interviews with public relations professionals, participants' experiences demonstrated that communication over food helps humanize others and build relationships with colleagues, which are fundamental to engagement. In addition, the narratives illustrated three phases of how communication constitutes employee engagement, starting with welcoming people then transitioning to celebrating, problem solving and collaborating, which can leave a positive impression on employees and their willingness to stay at an organization. Last, participants shared the complexities that underpin leadership experiences when it comes to sharing a meal with those employees they manage. Taken together, these insights have important implications for public relations theory and practice.
{"title":"Breaking bread to build coworker relationships: Exploring how food communication constitutes employee engagement for public relations professionals","authors":"Laura L. Lemon, Martina Topić-Rutherford, Claudia Bawole","doi":"10.1016/j.pubrev.2025.102659","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.pubrev.2025.102659","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study explores how sharing a meal with colleagues during work hours may impact employee engagement for people who practice public relations. Food serves as an opportunity to highlight the various places that informal, coworker communication occurs across the organization and how these exchanges constitute employee engagement. Through 21 in-depth interviews with public relations professionals, participants' experiences demonstrated that communication over food helps humanize others and build relationships with colleagues, which are fundamental to engagement. In addition, the narratives illustrated three phases of how communication constitutes employee engagement, starting with welcoming people then transitioning to celebrating, problem solving and collaborating, which can leave a positive impression on employees and their willingness to stay at an organization. Last, participants shared the complexities that underpin leadership experiences when it comes to sharing a meal with those employees they manage. Taken together, these insights have important implications for public relations theory and practice.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48263,"journal":{"name":"Public Relations Review","volume":"52 1","pages":"Article 102659"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2025-12-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145737016","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-01DOI: 10.1016/j.pubrev.2025.102636
Robert V. Kozinets , Ulrike Gretzel
This article introduces the special issue on passionate publics by arguing that traditional public relations frameworks, with their emphasis on rationality and managerial control, are insufficient for a contemporary communication environment defined by networked technologies and amplified affect. Foundational theories fail to account for the highly engaged, affectively driven, and co-creative collectives that now fundamentally shape public discourse. To address this theoretical gap, this article develops and defines the concept of the “passionate public”: a self-organizing formation that coalesces not around a problem to be solved, but around enthusiasm. Our framework synthesizes insights from the affective turn, network theory, and theories of desire to characterize these publics by three core dimensions: their affective drive, their networked patterns of engagement, and the productive force of their desire. The power and relevance of this conceptualization are grounded in the four key types of passionate publics explored throughout this special issue: fans, activists, influencers, and reviewers. The articles in this issue are discussed to demonstrate how passionate publics work, differ, challenge institutional narratives and often perform their own public relations work. We conclude that the rise of passionate publics necessitates a paradigm shift. Public relations theory and practice must move beyond a legacy of containment and control toward more ethical and inclusive modes. This will require a fundamental reorientation of public relations grounded in understanding these increasingly important passionate publics.
{"title":"Passionate Publics","authors":"Robert V. Kozinets , Ulrike Gretzel","doi":"10.1016/j.pubrev.2025.102636","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.pubrev.2025.102636","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This article introduces the special issue on passionate publics by arguing that traditional public relations frameworks, with their emphasis on rationality and managerial control, are insufficient for a contemporary communication environment defined by networked technologies and amplified affect. Foundational theories fail to account for the highly engaged, affectively driven, and co-creative collectives that now fundamentally shape public discourse. To address this theoretical gap, this article develops and defines the concept of the “passionate public”: a self-organizing formation that coalesces not around a problem to be solved, but around enthusiasm. Our framework synthesizes insights from the affective turn, network theory, and theories of desire to characterize these publics by three core dimensions: their affective drive, their networked patterns of engagement, and the productive force of their desire. The power and relevance of this conceptualization are grounded in the four key types of passionate publics explored throughout this special issue: fans, activists, influencers, and reviewers. The articles in this issue are discussed to demonstrate how passionate publics work, differ, challenge institutional narratives and often perform their own public relations work. We conclude that the rise of passionate publics necessitates a paradigm shift. Public relations theory and practice must move beyond a legacy of containment and control toward more ethical and inclusive modes. This will require a fundamental reorientation of public relations grounded in understanding these increasingly important passionate publics.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48263,"journal":{"name":"Public Relations Review","volume":"51 5","pages":"Article 102636"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2025-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145693052","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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