Many public relations practitioners and scholars have warmed to the idea that the practice of public relations is relationship management. Recent research has begun to explore the ways in which adaptations of interpersonal relationship-building strategies can be incorporated into an organization-public relationship context. The current investigation is a longitudinal study that links respondents who identify themselves as in relationship with the university to the behavior of returning to the institution. The investigation also linked relationship attitude statements to personal, professional, and community relationship scores. The findings from this investigation suggest that relationship attitudes play a role in retention, providing a quantitative illustration showing that public relations strategies, grounded in interpersonal communication relationship-building theory and adapted to meet relationship needs and expectations, can positively affect public member attitudes, evaluations, and behaviors. The results also indicate that when public members view the world differently than the organization, relational dissatisfaction can result, which in turn can lead to relationship termination. Moreover, the results show that organizations’ and public's progress through “turning points” in a relationship, and the identification of these turning points can provide practitioners with an opportunity to engage in dialogue with key public members. The article concludes by discussing the benefits that can be accrued by adopting a relationship-building approach to the study and practice of public relations.

The study and practice of public relations continues to explore the many benefits accrued when organizations adopt a relational approach to public relations management. One area that is relatively unexplored in the relationship management literature is the role of dialogue in organization–public relationships. Historically, scholars have focused dialogic research on either interaction – where an organization and a public exchange information – or a debate – where organizations and public engage in a process of statement counterstatement. The current investigation explores the notion of dialogue and examines the ways in which relationship attitudes and dialogue may positively affect key public member evaluations and behavioral intent. The results suggest that both relationship attitudes and dialogue positively affect respondent evaluations of and intended behaviors toward an organization. The implications of the findings are presented and suggestions for managing organization–public relationships are considered.

SUMMARY There is general agreement with the notion of public relations as the management of relationships between interacting organizations and key publics. The news media are a key public for organizations seeking to deliver information to viewers and readers of the media. The relationship between press relations practitioners and news media members, thus, is an important element in the practice of press relations. However, a review of relevant literature finds little to assist those charged with responsibility for managing that relationship. In this study, the authors advance the notion of a media audit as a means of identifying opportunities and issues and to serve as a tool for providing insight into ways to enhance the practitioner—media member relationship. The theoretical framework for the study is that of relationship management, and the research contributes to a growing body of research in that area.

An increasing number of colleges and universities have developed strategies for community engagement. The engagement, however, has been one-sided in that colleges and universities send students, faculty, and staff members out into the community. The current investigation sought to further broaden the definition of community engagement by exploring the benefits that can be accrued by a university when community members are encouraged to explore the cultural, intellectual, athletic, and artistic benefits that are provided in college and university campuses.The results showed that community members who have attended a campus event in the past six months had a significantly more favorable impression of the university than those who had not attended an event. The implications for town-gown relations are discussed, the applicability of these findings to public relations practice generally are explored, and the limitations to the current investigation are offered. (c) 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The notion of mutual benefit has been a foundational assumption for scholars who use the relationship management perspective. Although many studies have interred that mutual benefit links to organizational outcomes, no study to date has linked quantitatively key public member perception of benefit to positive organizational results. The current investigation sought to quantify the link between respondent perception of benefit and traditional organizational outcomes such as satisfaction and behavioral intent.Additionally, the research sought to determine which variables best differentiate those who feel they have received benefit from those who have not or were uncertain. The results suggest that mutual benefit is a stand-alone outcome indicator of programmatic success. Moreover, perceptions of benefit appear to tie to respondent evaluations of the relationship that they have with an organization. Discussion of the findings and the implications for the study and practice of public relations are considered. (c) 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Many public relations practitioners have not incorporated relationship management theory into the practice of public relations because the quantitative and qualitative benefits derived from effective relationship management have been, more often than not, inferred rather than demonstrated. The current investigation was designed to measure respondents’ perceptions of their relationship with an organization and determine the ways in which organization‐public relationships were linked to evaluations of satisfaction and behavioral intent. The results showed that organization‐public relationships indeed were related to respondent satisfaction evaluations and behavioral intent, suggesting that organizations should attend carefully and strategically to the management of organization‐public relationships. Implications of these findings were presented, and limitations to the current investigation discussed.

On average, housing is the single largest expenditure in American household budgets. Although housing commands a large percentage of many budgets, very little research has been conducted to examine the ways in which public/community relations activities may affect resident evaluations of living in a municipality. The current investigation examines city–resident relationships, evaluations of housing satisfaction, and evaluations of city services to determine the ways in which each of these variables may affect resident perceptions of whether the city has fallen short, met, or exceeded the expectations of the respondent. The results show that the city–resident relationship is an important influencer, and suggest that public relations managers should be aware of the ways in which relationship building activity can affect positively resident attitudes, evaluations, and intended behaviors. The findings are discussed and implications for the study and practice of public relations are considered.

A number of scholars recently have published scales designed to measure respondent relationship–public relationship attitudes. The scale that was developed by Bruning and Ledingham showed that organization public relationships focus on key public member personal, professional, and community relationship attitudes. The current investigation was an attempt to expand the scope of that scale by including two dimensions of personal relationship commitment—personal and structural—to provide a more complete examination of organization–public relationships. Data were collected from 135 respondents. A factor analysis with a Varimax rotation was computed and showed that organization–public relationships have at least five dimensions: anthropomorphism, professional benefits/expectations, personal commitment, community improvement, and comparison of alternatives. The results are discussed, the implications of the findings for practitioners presented, and the limitations to the investigation reported.

Abstract The management of organization-public relationships traditionally has been the province of public relations within many corporate structures. The practice of public relations, however, long has struggled to gain respectability within many corporate and academic structures, in part because empirical links between public relations activities and organizational outcomes have been established. Although many would agree that the organization-public relationship influences key public member evaluations of satisfaction with the organization, more often than not, that linkage has been inferred rather than demonstrated. The current investigation was an attempt to examine the role that respondent relationship attitudes play in evaluations of satisfaction with a bank, creating a link between relationship attitudes and organizational outcomes. The results suggest that those key public members who identify themselves as being in relationship with the bank likewise have higher satisfaction evaluations. The relationship variables that best predict respondent identification of being in relationship with the bank then were explored, and showed that the personal relationship dimension best predicts respondent self-identification of being in relationship with the bank. The findings from the investigation, the implications that these findings have for public relations practitioners, and the limitations to the current investigation are presented.

Leichty and Springston (1993) suggest that “if the relationship management metaphor is to be taken seriously, we need to develop a theory of how relationships between organizations and publics develop, change, and are maintained” (p. 334). The current investigation is a response to that challenge by suggesting a theoretical grounding, drawn from Knapp and Vangelisti's (1996) interaction stages research, for describing how agency-client relationships are initiated, developed, maintained, and deteriorate. The research was conducted with 25 account executives of a medium-sized mid-western public relations agency. The participants provided examples of communication, behaviors, and interaction patterns that are experienced when agencies and clients initiate, develop, maintain, deteriorate, and terminate relationships. A total of five phases of organization-public relationship development and five phases of organization-public relationship decline are reported. The paper concludes with a discussion of the role that relationship management should play in the study and practice of public relations.

The practice of public relations historically has focused on managing communications. Within the past 5 years, however, an increasing number of scholars have started to conceptualize the practice of public relations as relationship management, and have centred their research efforts on examining the factors that affect organization–public relationships. Recent research has shown that effectively managed organization–public relationships affect key public member attitudes, evaluations, and behaviors. In the current investigation, 122 participants were surveyed to determine whether student–university relationship attitudes and satisfaction evaluations distinguished those who returned to a university from those who did not. The results show that respondent relationship attitudes differentiate those who returned to the university from those who did not, which provides a quantitative illustration of the benefits of incorporating a relationally-based grounding for the practice of public relations. Implications of the findings, suggestions for managing organization–public relationships, and limitations to the investigation also are presented.

The field of public relations historically has been charged with managing relationships between organizations and publics. Those who build relationships with key constituents, however, struggle with determining whether relationship building activities influence key constituent behavior. The current investigation tracked college students in an attempt to better understand the role that relationship attitudes play in retention. The results showed that those respondents who identify themselves as in relationship with the university were much more likely to return. The investigation then sought to determine which university‐student relationship attitudes best differentiate those students who say they are in relationship with the university from those who say they are not or are uncertain. Those results showed that community relationships were strongly related, while the personal and professional relationships were substantially related to respondent self‐identification of being in relationship with the institution. The ramifications for relationship building, directions for future research, and limitations to the current investigation were presented.

Public relations scholars who have adopted a relationship management perspective have reported that the relationship that exists between an organization and key public members influences key public member perceptions, attitudes, evaluations, and behaviors. Scholars argue that in the relationship management perspective, the role of the public relations practitioner is to support and manage organization-public relationships, not simply transfer information. However, the practice of public relations more typically employs traditional mass communication models rather than true relationship principles. The current investigation extends the axioms of interpersonal communication to an organization-public context, finding that many of the concepts, when adapted slightly, are applicable to an organization-public relationship. Understanding the axioms of organization-public relationship communication should help practitioners develop a clearer conceptualization of the role that communication and relationships play in organizational functioning, and lend more credence to the notion of public relations as relationship management.

The practice of public relations at most universities has been relegated to a single office concerned primarily with managing institutional reputation. When public relations is conceptualized as relationship management, however, the role of public relations is expanded to include a campus‐wide approach to initiating, developing, and maintaining relationships with key public members who can affect the institution economically, socially, politically, and culturally. In the current investigation, 164 students were surveyed to determine whether student‐university relationship attitudes differentiated those who indicated they were planning on returning to the institution from those who were not or were undecided. Respondent student‐university relationship attitudes were measured using the Bruning and Ledingham (1999) organization‐public relationship scale, which examines the respondent's personal, professional, and community relationship attitudes. Also, focus groups were conducted to define student‐university personal, professional, and community relationships. The results showed that community relationships were strongly related to the criterion and personal and professional relationships were substantially related. Implications of these findings for the practice of public relations, suggestions for managing student‐faculty relationships, and limitations to the investigation are discussed.

Increasingly, scholars and practitioners define the practice of public relations as relationship management. Scholars recently have demonstrated that relationship attitudes can be used to predict key public member satisfaction and intended behavioral outcomes in the telecommunications, banking, and education industries. The investigation reported herein examines the role that relationships play in influencing respondent behavioral intentions in the insurance industry by surveying 62 clients of a medium‐sized full‐service agency. The results indicated that respondent personal, professional, and community relationship attitudes differentiated those who intend to remain loyal to the agency from those who were not or were undecided. The findings suggest that (a) the practice of public relations should continue to evolve toward the relationship management paradigm, (b) practitioners may wish to re‐conceptualize the measurement of public relations outcomes away from measuring effectiveness based on communication flows and toward measuring the influence that public relations activities have on key public member perceptions, attitudes, evaluations, and behaviors, (c) practitioners can demonstrate accountability and justify programmatic initiatives by focusing on the organization‐public relationship, and (d) the role of public relations within the corporate structure should be expanded to managers of the relationships that affect the organization's economic, social, political, and/or cultural well‐being.