Purpose – To examine how public relations practitioners define influence and where they find influence. Design/methodology/approach – Depth interviews with 162 public relations practitioners. Findings – Public relations professionals defined influence in terms of shaping decisions, having...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine three perspectives on autonomy: communication management or public relations autonomy, autonomy in management theory, and the autonomy of moral philosophy. Design/methodology/approach – These arguments for autonomy are combined and studied to...

Purpose – This paper aims to consider whether ethical persuasion can be part of public relations practice. Design/methodology/approach – The paper contends that the critical issue for practitioners is not whether they engage in persuasion, but whether they do so ethically. Accordingly, a...

Purpose – This is a general review of the German concepts and provisions for the self‐regulation of PR practitioners. They differ from the various systems published so far in this Journal (Vol. 8 No.1, 2003). The purpose of the paper is a contribution to the actual debate about the most...

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to present and compare two approaches (the global and the cultural) to public relationship management and to argue by reference to different cases, why the cultural approach can be considered more effective in establishing good relationships in different...

Purpose – The aim is to study how the chemical industry in Tarragona (Spain) uses the internet to communicate with its community on issues relating to chemical risk and the impact of the chemical industry on the environment, health and safety. Design/methodology/approach – A specific...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present and discuss the results of research conducted among Scottish communication professionals, which investigated their perception of and attitudes toward recent trends and future developments with respect to the free organisational publication....

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the notion that, in order to instil and maintain confidence in relationships with clients, journalists and others, PR practitioners in the UK, and women in particular, are required to develop specific skills in managing emotion. It argues that,...

Purpose – The PR industry has become an important actor in society and in the democratic process. The purpose of this article is to examine the opinion state of this phenomenon. More precisely the question is: what trust do people have in the PR industry and PR professionals?...

Purpose – The purpose of the paper is to investigate the consequences of using national celebrities, local celebrities and disaster victims as spokespersons in a public service radio announcement (PSA) soliciting contributions for victims of Hurricane Katrina. Design/methodology/approach –...