Public Relations Theory by Brigitta R. Brunner

Author:Brigitta R. Brunner
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781119373148
Publisher: Wiley
Published: 2019-04-22T00:00:00+00:00

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Globalization

Chiara Valentini

Especially in the last 30 years, globalization has emerged as a central concept in public, political, and managerial discourses dealing with its impact on societies, cultures, social policies, and the lives of people in general. As a historical and social phenomenon, globalization is associated with internationalization processes, social relations, and technological developments. In public relations, globalization is often related to the increased and widespread transnationalization of organizations, particularly large corporations, and how these organizations manage the complexity and ambiguity that come when operating in multiple and diverse types of market and with heterogeneous and often diverging public groups. This transnational process, occurring first, but not only, in large corporations, has posed several challenges to the public relations profession. By the late 1980s, many companies were actually multinational and multicultural organizations and had to respond to, and be accountable to international publics and shareholders to a greater degree (Valentini, 2012). Internationally, the economic boom of the 1980s and the revitalization of a capitalist and corporatist mentality in many postsocialist countries have contributed to the diffusion of public relations in non‐Western countries (Bardhan & Weaver, 2011; Valentini, 2012).

Consequently, questions of how to address the specificities of these post‐Soviet countries when conducting public relations have become even more compelling. Whether Western organizations had to enter new markets or new, non‐Western markets relied more and more on public relations practices, an increasing need for communication addressing international concerns and thus of more global approaches in public relations arose among both practitioners and scholars. Globalization can thus be considered a major force in bringing about the transnationalization of organizations and the consequent expansion of public relations roles and functions. It has also been a key factor in promoting public relations as a central function in profit, nonprofit, and public organizations in non‐Western countries. These two developments urged changes in how public relations has been conceptualized and conducted internally and externally in organizations to meet new environment conditions.

This chapter offers an introduction to the concept of globalization and how and why it impacts public relations. It then presents and reviews some theories, models, and concepts in public relations addressing globalization and discusses how these can be used to meet public relations challenges in global societies. It concludes with some reflections on major questions that need to be addressed by public relations theorists working in globalization.

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