Explicating Relationship Management as a General Theory of Public Relations

Explicating Relationship Management as

a General Theory of Public Relations

John A. Ledingham

Department of Communication

Capital University

Although the relationship management perspective of public relations is the focus of

a substantial body of scholarship, a theory of that perspective has yet to be articulated

and explicated. Herein, I review the emergence of the relational perspective, summa￾rize the relevant literature, and construct a theoretical statement of that perspective. I

then argue for relationship management as a general theory of public relations and of￾fer suggestions for future research within a relational paradigm.

The relationship management perspective holds that public relations balances

the interests of organizations and publics through the management of organiza￾tion–public relationships. Within that perspective, public relations is seen as “the

management function that establishes and maintains mutually beneficial rela￾tionships between an organization and the publics on whom its success or failure

depends” (Cutlip, Center, & Broom, 1994, p. 2). The relational perspective has

been explored in the context of various public relations functions, including pub￾lic affairs (Ledingham, 2001a), community relations (Ledingham & Bruning,

2001), issues management (Bridges & Nelson, 2000), crisis management

(Coombs, 2000), and media relations (Ledingham & Bruning, 1998b, 1999).

Moreover, the notion of relationship management is consistent with major theo￾retical concepts such as systems theory and the two-way symmetrical model of

J. E. Grunig and Hunt (1984) and also accommodates relevant middle-range the￾ories. Despite a growing body of scholarship focused on the relational perspec￾tive, some have suggested that the concept has yet to be articulated in a theoreti￾cal statement that then can be examined in terms of accepted criteria for theory

building (Broom, Casey, & Ritchey, 1997, 2000). Such a statement, grounded in

JOURNAL OF PUBLIC RELATIONS RESEARCH, 15(2), 181–198

Copyright © 2003, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.

Requests for reprints should be sent to John A. Ledingham, College of Arts and Sciences, Capital

University, Columbus, OH 43209–2394. E-mail: [email protected]