Engaging communities

Public Relations Review 38 (2012) 116–122

Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect

Public Relations Review

Engaging communities: Ostrom’s economic commons, social capital

and public relations

Paul Willis ∗

Centre for Public Relations Studies, Leeds Business School, Leeds Metropolitan University, 25, Queen Square, Leeds LS2 8AF, United Kingdom

a r t i c l e i n f o

Article history:

Received 6 April 2011

Received in revised form 8 August 2011

Accepted 16 August 2011

Keywords:

Public relations

Community

Commons

Social capital

a b s t r a c t

This article discusses the research of economics Nobelist Elinor Ostrom. It argues her anal￾ysis of long term community co-operation contains important insights for public relations,

especially in the area of community engagement. Informed by Ostrom’s focus on common

pool resource management, the article highlights the importance of organisations adopting

an attitude of mutuality to the external stakeholder environment. It also associates pub￾lic relations practice with the promotion of a social commons. It then examines Ostrom’s

insights on the role thatface-to-face communication plays in the generation of social capital

and the norms of behaviour that promote co-operation. The article ends with a discussion

of the implications of these findings for the practice of public relations in organisations and

suggests areas for further research.

© 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

1. Challenges in community engagement

This article considers a pressing challenge. How might organisations engage with community stakeholders to create

environments that promote mutual problem solving? This question – of how all parties can contribute equally to dialogue

and decision-making – is importantfor public relations. Itis especially pertinent at a time when there are calls for the creation

of new partnerships between organisations and civil society designed to build trust. Such partnerships must allow for the

collaborative management of a range of social dilemmas and wicked problems (for example, in the sphere of environmental

management and sustainability). This aligns with the World Business Council’s (2010) call for organisations to rethink their

relationships with community stakeholders in the wake of a global financial crisis that has generated widespread economic,

social and political dislocation (Arthur Page Society, 2009; Kotler & Caslione, 2009).

Behind these challenges lie a range of issues of concern to public relations practitioners responsible for managing commu￾nity engagement programmes on behalf of organisations. Three specific questions are considered here: how do organisations

go about developing and sustaining long term co-operative relationships with community groups? What is the role of

communication in this process? What strategic implications does this generate for the organisation?

To answer these questions this article uses the work of economics Nobelist Elinor Ostrom in line with recent initiatives

to broaden public relations’ conceptual range by introducing outside thinkers to the field (Ihlen, van Ruler, & Fredriksson,

2009; McKie & Munshi, 2009). The discussion of Ostrom’s work also supports the view put forward by McKie (2010) that

the economic sciences offer a rich seam of insight containing contributors that can assist public relations scholars “seeking

a more justice-based, methodically sophisticated and socially relevant agenda” (p. 93).

By exploring Ostrom’s research this article is concerned with promoting community engagement that associates public

relations practice withsocietal good rather thanthe exclusive pursuit of organisational interests.It begins withanoverview of

∗ Tel.: +44 0113 81 23578; fax: +44 0113 81 1730.

E-mail address: [email protected]

0363-8111/$ – see front matter © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

doi:10.1016/j.pubrev.2011.08.016