Journal of Communication Management最新文献

{"title":"Between rules, norms and shared understandings: how institutional pressures shape the implementation of data-driven communications","authors":"E. Economou, Edwina Luck, J. Bartlett","doi":"10.1108/jcom-01-2022-0009","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/jcom-01-2022-0009","url":null,"abstract":"PurposeBig data and analytics make digital communications more effective, but little is known about how institutional pressures shape data-driven communications. These pressures determine and constrain how, what, when and to whom practitioners should communicate. This empirical study explores how institutional forces influence the use of data in guiding digital communications. The paper identifies factors that impact communications and shape practitioner views on particular tools in their day-to-day work.Design/methodology/approachThis study uses a qualitative exploratory approach with in-depth interviews of 15 Australian communication practitioners through the lens of neo-institutional theory. Thematic analysis was applied to identify three main themes.FindingsCommunications professionals disclosed how they were influenced by coercive institutional forces such as ambiguous data privacy regulations, normative forces that shaped ethical concerns, professionalism and various challenges, and mimetic forces that determined shared methods and implementation of digital communications technologies such as analytics. Furthermore, the authors reveal how analytics – tools typically associated with uncertainty and mimetic influences – exert coercive pressures that could lead to misguided decision-making.Research limitations/implicationsThis study’s findings highlight the need for practitioners to learn more about the inner workings of analytics tools and for managers to determine if the perceived benefits of these solutions outweigh any undesirable effects.Practical implicationsThe study contributes to extant research on digitalization in strategic communication by providing new insights into practitioner views and challenges with digital communications technologies.Originality/valueDespite the considerable effects of institutional pressures, this study is the first to explore the impacts of data-driven communications at the level of individual practitioners. The paper advances neo-institutional theory in public relations (PR), strategic communication and corporate communications at the micro level.","PeriodicalId":51660,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Communication Management","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2023-02-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47834130","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Alert but somewhat unaligned: public sector organisations' social media listening strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic","authors":"Taina Erkkilä, Vilma Luoma-aho","doi":"10.1108/jcom-02-2022-0015","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/jcom-02-2022-0015","url":null,"abstract":"PurposeDuring the COVID-19 pandemic, public sector organisations produced thousands of social media messages weekly answering citizens questions and informing the public on safety related matters. The purpose of this study was to investigate how the pandemic shaped social media listening in Finland's public sector organisations and how these organisations aligned their listening and strategic communication to address emerging questions, news (real and fake) and rumours during the pandemic.Design/methodology/approachBuilding on a theoretical background from strategic communication, organisational listening, digital marketing and public sector communication, qualitative interview data included communicators (N = 14) from all central Finnish public sector organisations in charge of COVID-19 communication. Findings were themed and analysed qualitatively to understand the level of alignment of strategic communication on social media.FindingsThe findings revealed that the pandemic had strained public sector organisations' communication capabilities, forcing them to align their processes and resources reactively to enable useful content and limit false/misleading content. The results confirmed that organisational listening remained somewhat unaligned. A dual role of public sector communication as speakers but increasingly as listeners was highlighted.Originality/valueThe study’s findings point to organisational listening on social media being a central requisite for public sector organisations overcoming a crisis.","PeriodicalId":51660,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Communication Management","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2023-02-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49145194","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The positioning of CEOs as advocates and activists for societal change: reflecting media, receptive and strategic cornerstones","authors":"Vanja Bojanic","doi":"10.1108/jcom-12-2021-0143","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/jcom-12-2021-0143","url":null,"abstract":"PurposeThis paper aims to take stock of current knowledge on chief executive officers (CEOs) speaking out on societal issues and to position the phenomenon with and against the relevant literature on CEO communication. Ultimately, the paper seeks to arrive at a better conceptual understanding of CEO advocates and activists from a communication science perspective.Design/methodology/approachThis paper is conceptual and considers findings from the literature on personalization, reputation, issues and topic management.FindingsThe paper reflects media, receptive and strategic implications for CEO advocates and activists and derives four workable propositions. It lays the foundation for treating CEO advocacy and activism as a form of strategic topic management that harnesses personalization to address a new set of stakeholder demands.Practical implicationsThe insights gained from this paper may help researchers and practitioners understand when CEOs should speak up, what to communicate and how. The human element behind this kind of communication echoes new expectations, demands and values from stakeholders, shareholders and society at large.Social implicationsUnderstanding the specific interdependencies between personalization, reputation, issues and topic management underlying CEO advocacy and activism can help to improve a CEO's relationship with stakeholders and guide the public discourse to actively bring about positive societal change.Originality/valueThe paper fills a gap by providing an understanding of advocate and activist CEOs from a communication science perspective. The insights from this paper can be used as a starting point for further research on this subject.","PeriodicalId":51660,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Communication Management","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2023-02-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41738229","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Effective communication management in a public health crisis: lessons learned about COVID-19 pandemic through the lens of health communication executives","authors":"Taylor S. Voges, Yan Jin, LaShonda L. Eaddy, Shelley Spector","doi":"10.1108/jcom-12-2021-0137","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/jcom-12-2021-0137","url":null,"abstract":"PurposeThe purpose of the study is to provide insights on the COVID-19 pandemic communication from the lessons learned by health communication executives—how they perceived the COVID-19 pandemic and recommend preparing for communication management of future public health crises.Design/methodology/approachA number of top health communication executives in the United States, who worked in the healthcare industry for at least 25 years and held titles like director, president and chief strategist, were interviewed for their unique perspectives on the COVID-19 pandemic. This study used the contingency theory of strategic conflict management for qualitative deductive analysis of the following segmentations of key factors that drove organizational communication management decision making during the pandemic: organization characteristics, relationship characteristics, general external climate, external publics and the issue under question.FindingsHealth communication executives heavily relied on their past health communication experiences, which led to nuanced understandings of the COVID-19 pandemic. Practically, the health communication executives urged future practitioners to constantly assess risks, hire and use diverse and representative decision-makers; set a communication protocol; and keep the communication in perspective. Theoretically, the contingency theory is furthered—there appears to be a theoretical linkage between the construct of general external climate and the construct of the external public.Originality/valueThe unique perspectives of top health communication executives, based in the United States, provided in-depth insights on the COVID-19 pandemic—its nuances, challenges and main influences (e.g. political, racial, etc.). These takeaways and recommendations can be adapted by other organizations and future health communicators in other parts of the world.","PeriodicalId":51660,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Communication Management","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2023-02-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48297922","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"“I am not a typical woman. I don’t think I am a role model” – Blokishness, behavioural and leadership styles and role models","authors":"M. Topić","doi":"10.1108/jcom-05-2022-0055","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/jcom-05-2022-0055","url":null,"abstract":"PurposeThis paper presents a sociological analysis of the advertising industry's leadership styles and role models in England using masculinities in behaviour (“blokishness”) as a concept. The paper particularly focusses on the experiences of the so-called tomboy women who were socialised with boys and embraced masculine behavioural styles and compares their views and styles with women who experienced a more common, feminine socialisation and spent time in girls' peer groups during early socialisation. The paper explores why some women are seen as role models and others are not.Design/methodology/approachQualitative interviews were conducted with 37 women working in a variety of roles within the advertising industry in England, and from a variety of backgrounds, and views on leadership and role models were analysed with a particular focus on “tomboy” women and their behavioural and leadership styles, which is linked with role models and compared against views of the so-called feminine women. Triple coding and a thematic analysis were used to analyse data and make sense of concepts derived from participants' answers.FindingsThe findings suggest that tomboy women demonstrate masculine leadership and behavioural styles and are less likely to see themselves as role models along with facing disapproval from female employees they manage. On the other hand, feminine women demonstrate feminine leadership styles and are more likely to see themselves and become accepted as role models. Thus, the paper suggests that the perception and experience of role models depend on behavioural and leadership styles, which is different for the so-called tomboy and feminine women. Data suggest this is due to participation in early peer groups during childhood. The paper offers conceptualisation figures to inform future research.Practical implicationsThe findings suggest it is not always formal structure that impedes the progress of women, but often informal ones linked to behavioural styles. Therefore, whilst many positive policies have been introduced to improve equality in organisations and society in general, this paper sheds light on how these policies could get undermined by informal issues such as behavioural and leadership styles. Human resource (HR) professionals should further internal policies to prevent situations in which only those “who are like us” can go ahead in their careers by diversifying the workforce and employment and promotions panels.Originality/valueTo the best of the author's knowledge, this is the first paper analysing role models, and leadership styles linked to the position of women in the advertising industry, focussing on blokishness in behaviour and comparing styles of the so-called tomboy and feminine women.","PeriodicalId":51660,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Communication Management","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2023-01-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48799117","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Analysing public diplomacy on Twitter with the MARPE Diplo methodological framework: the case of the European external action service","authors":"Anne-Marie Cotton, Hélène Boulanger","doi":"10.1108/jcom-04-2022-0036","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/jcom-04-2022-0036","url":null,"abstract":"PurposeThe European External Action Service (EEAS) is a relatively new diplomatic service established in 2010. In previous analyses, the authors noted a dominance of security and foreign policy messages emanating from the EEAS, demonstrating the European Union (EU)'s negotiating power. It was clear it had discovered the benefits of public diplomacy, but rather practised traditional diplomacy on public diplomacy specific platforms. The authors aim to pursue the monitoring of the EEAS’ strategy, covering 2019 and 2020, to understand how the use of Twitter supports the evolution of the EU foreign policy.Design/methodology/approachQuestioning if the EEAS is entering the second phase of its life cycle (launched in 2010, its introduction phase was under Katherine Ashton, 2009–2014, followed by Federica Mogherini, 2014–2019, and Josep Borrell, 2019–2024), the authors carried out a content analysis on 765 tweets. The authors used the MARPE Diplo methodological framework to compare how the EU uses public diplomacy through its EEAS to negotiate its own interests with non-EU parties under the presidency of Federica Mogherini (period 1), during the transition period (period 2) and under the presidency of Joseph Borrell (period 3).FindingsBased on the comparison with their previous studies, the authors demonstrate that, over the years, the overall discourse of the EEAS is much more oriented towards public diplomacy.Research limitations/implicationsThe present study has two limitations. The first refers to the sampling of the participants involved in the citizen science experiment: they belong to a homogeneous age category and similar education level which might have biased their analysis. Second, the authors acknowledge the usual limitations linked to citizen science. However, the authors acknowledge a growing emphasis on the outcomes for society involving citizens and including partnerships between the public and scientists as well as an increased public engagement in policy processes.Practical implicationsThe research leads into new insights regarding the European-centred translation of the EEAS messages, compared to the off-centred view of non-European contributors.Social implicationsThe citizen science approach allows to integrate the targeted public to apply public diplomacy content analysis.Originality/valueThis case study is based on the principles of citizen science and demonstrates the importance of an off-centred approach in the analysis of the practices of public diplomacy.","PeriodicalId":51660,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Communication Management","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2023-01-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47796526","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"How to earn a premium price: the effect of green marketing and brand coolness","authors":"J. Guerreiro, S. Loureiro, Jorge Nascimento, Miguel Duarte","doi":"10.1108/jcom-05-2022-0062","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/jcom-05-2022-0062","url":null,"abstract":"PurposeThe current paper aims to explore how brand coolness can mediate the relationship between tactical green marketing orientation (GMO) and willingness to pay (WTP), by exploring the differences between two global brands with opposite green marketing perceptions.Design/methodology/approachBased on the stimuli-organism-response (S-O-R) framework, the relation between tactical GMO, brand coolness and consumer's WTP is examined through a survey with 272 participants, who gave their perceptions about two different brands regarding their green orientations: British Petroleum (BP) and L'Oréal. The variable set was adapted and validated through focus group sessions.FindingsBrand coolness is found to mediate the impact GMO on WTP and, for both brands, green marketing does affect the extent to which brands are perceived as cool by consumers. More importantly, evidence shows that only in the case of the “green brand” (e.g. L'Oréal), the impact on WTP is significant, which offers new implications regarding the outcomes of companies' pro-environmental policies.Originality/valueThis study is the first to investigate the outcomes of GMO over consumer's intentions (WTP) and the role of brand perceptions (coolness). The effects are compared between two global brands, with significantly different perceptions on their environmental sustainability.","PeriodicalId":51660,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Communication Management","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2023-01-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49266319","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Globalization of the public relations agency industry: a country-level analysis of global public relations agencies and environmental factors","authors":"Suman Lee, S. Chung, Eui-Bang Lee","doi":"10.1108/jcom-06-2022-0067","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/jcom-06-2022-0067","url":null,"abstract":"PurposeThe present study examined the status of globalization of the public relations (PR) agency industry and its environmental factors by analyzing 101 countries.Design/methodology/approachData were constructed from content analysis and multiple archival sources. Cluster analysis and multiple regressions were used for data analysis.FindingsThe present study identified the four distinctive groups of countries in the number of global PR agencies per country. These groups are (1) globalized top countries, (2) globalized major countries, (3) globalizing countries and (4) peripheral countries. The study also found that the degree of globalization of the PR agency industry in a country was associated with its democracy, economic system (gross domestic product (GDP) and foreign direct investment inflow), legal system (rule of law), cultural system (power distance and long-term orientation) and media system (Internet penetration rate) factors.Originality/valueThe previous studies on the global PR agency industry was limited to investigating a few leading agencies, but this study analyzed 114 global PR agencies and their diffusion in 101 countries and explored the influence of each country's characteristics (i.e. political, economic, legal, cultural and media factors) identified as the global PR environment factors.","PeriodicalId":51660,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Communication Management","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2023-01-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44425399","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"An intermestic approach to China's public diplomacy: a case study of Beijing's COVID-19 communication in the early stages","authors":"Z. Huang, Rui Wang","doi":"10.1108/jcom-04-2022-0042","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/jcom-04-2022-0042","url":null,"abstract":"PurposeThe aim of this study was to examine the early stages of the COVID-19 outbreak and the international communication management of Chinese diplomats as a case for extending the definition of intermestic public diplomacy. The goal was to reveal how Beijing subtly used both domestic and foreign social media to organize a network for communication about COVID-19 and purposefully soften the highly centralized and hierarchical political propaganda of the Communist Party of China (CPC).Design/methodology/approachBased on the literature on digital public diplomacy, the authors applied the existing concept of intermestic to Chinese politics in order to demonstrate the digitalization of public diplomacy, along with its forms and strategies under an authoritarian regime. A hybrid methodology combining quantitative network analysis and qualitative discourse analysis permits examination of China's intermestic online communication network dynamics, shedding light on how such an intermestic practice promoted Chinese values and power to international publics in the early stages of the COVID-19 crisis.FindingsThe authors’ findings extend the implications of intermestic public diplomacy from a democratic context to an authoritarian one. By analyzing the content of public diplomacy and para-diplomatic social media accounts in China and abroad at the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis, the authors outlined China's early crisis management, explaining its intermestic public diplomacy transmission modes and strategies. Moreover, the authors identified changes in the narrative strategies of Chinese diplomats and journalists during this process.Social implicationsThe findings of this study underline that Beijing established a narrative-making virtual communication structure for disseminating favorable Chinese strategic narratives and voices through differentiated communication on domestic and foreign social media platforms. Such intermestic communication strategies were particularly evident and even further weaponized by Beijing in its large-scale Wolf Warrior diplomacy in the spring of 2020. Thus, the study’s findings help readers understand how China digitalized its public diplomacy, its digital communication patterns and strategies.Originality/valueOn the one hand, geopolitical uncertainty and the popularity of social media have contributed to the evolution of the intermestic model of public diplomacy. This model allows actors to coordinate homogenous and differentiated communication practices to deploy their influence. On the other hand, the authors did not examine how intermestic audiences perceive and receive public diplomacy practices. In future studies, scholars should measure the agenda-setting capacity of diplomatic actors by examining the effects of such intermestic communication efforts.","PeriodicalId":51660,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Communication Management","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2022-12-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43151411","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Responding to online complaints in webcare by public organizations: the impact on continuance intention and reputation","authors":"Sandra Jacobs, Christine Liebrecht","doi":"10.1108/jcom-11-2021-0132","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/jcom-11-2021-0132","url":null,"abstract":"<h3>Purpose</h3>\u0000<p>Since public sector organizations provide services to citizens but struggle with poor perceptions of their functioning, it is valuable to examine how their online responses to complaints on social media could impact their reputation. Yet, surprisingly little is known about effects of public organizations' webcare. Therefore, this study assesses the impact of the webcare's tone, response strategy and user's involvement on participants’ continuance intention and perceptions of reputation.</p><!--/ Abstract__block -->\u0000<h3>Design/methodology/approach</h3>\u0000<p>Two experimental studies (Study 1: <em>N</em> = 424; Study 2: <em>N</em> = 203) with an interval of one week were carried out to assess the effects of singular and repeated exposure to webcare by a Dutch public transport organization on the participants' continuance intention and perceived organizational reputation. Study 1 examined the effects of the webcare's tone (corporate vs conversational human voice (CHV)) and response strategy (accommodative vs defensive); Study 2 contained tone of voice and user's involvement (observer vs complainer). The effects of repeated exposure to the webcare's tone were also examined.</p><!--/ Abstract__block -->\u0000<h3>Findings</h3>\u0000<p>The results indicate that perceptions of CHV in webcare contribute to webcare as reputation management tool, since it leads to immediate higher reputation scores that also remain stable after repeated exposure. Furthermore, people's continuance intention increased after repeated exposure to webcare responses that were perceived as CHV, thus a natural and engaging communication style, indicating this is an effective strategy for customer care as well. No substantial impact was found for response strategy and user's involvement in the complaint handling.</p><!--/ Abstract__block -->\u0000<h3>Originality/value</h3>\u0000<p>The novelty of this study is that the authors assess the effects of the webcare's tone combined with response strategy and user's involvement in a public sector context with a sector-specific conceptualization of reputation and continuance intention measured after singular and repeated exposure to webcare.</p><!--/ Abstract__block -->","PeriodicalId":51660,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Communication Management","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2022-12-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138514070","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}