Global Public Relations

Global Public Relations

This innovative text provides a structured and practical framework for understanding the com￾plexities of contemporary public relations. It is an instructional book that guides the reader through

the challenges of communication and problem-solving across a range of organizations and cross￾cultural settings.

Written in a straightforward, lively style, the book covers:

■ foundational theories, and factors that shape the discipline;

■ communication across cultures;

■ trends affecting the public relations profession throughout the world.

Incorporating case studies and commentary to illustrate key principles and stimulate discussion,

the book also highlights the different approaches professionals must consider in different contexts,

from communicating with employees to liaising with external bodies such as government agencies

or the media.

Offering a truly global perspective on the subject, Global Public Relations is essential reading

for any student or practitioner interested in public relations excellence in a global setting.

Alan R. Freitag is Associate Department Chair in the Department of Communication Studies at

the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, USA.

Ashli Quesinberry Stokes is Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication Studies at

the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, USA.

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Global Public Relations

Spanning borders, spanning cultures

Alan R. Freitag and Ashli Quesinberry Stokes

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First published 2009

by Routledge

2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada

by Routledge

270 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

© 2009 Alan R. Freitag and Ashli Quesinberry Stokes

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in

any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter

invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or

retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Global public relations : spanning borders, spanning cultures / edited by

Alan R. Freitag and Ashli Quesinberry Stokes.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-415-44814-7 (hardback) — ISBN 978-0-415-44815-4 (pbk.)

1. Public relations—Cross-cultural studies. 2. Intercultural communication.

3. Culture and globalization. I. Freitag, Alan. R. II. Stokes, Ashli Quesinberry.

HM1221.G56 2008

659.209—dc22

2008014022

ISBN10: 0-415-44814-X (hbk)

ISBN10: 0-415-44815-8 (pbk)

ISBN10: 0-203-89018-3 (ebk)

ISBN13: 978-0-415-44814-7 (hbk)

ISBN13: 978-0-415-44815-4 (pbk)

ISBN13: 978-0-203-89018-9 (ebk)

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This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2008.

“To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s

collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.”

ISBN 0-203-89018-3 Master e-book ISBN

Contents

List of tables vii

List of figures viii

Foreword by Hugh M. Culbertson ix

Preface xiv

Acknowledgments xvi

Contributing authors xvii

Part 1

1 Common ground 3

2 Evolution of the profession 17

3 Theories and methods 32

Part 2

4 Comparative cultural metrics 53

5 Structural comparisons 71

6 The state of the public relations profession 87

Part 3

7 South and Southeast Asia 117

8 Evolutionary public relations in China, Japan and South Korea 137

9 The Middle East 162

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v i Contents

10 Public relations in sub-Saharan Africa 178

11 Latin America 206

12 Central and Eastern Europe 228

13 Western Europe and “legacy” countries 261

14 A look to the future 280

Index 304

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List of tables

4.1 Characteristics of high- and low-context cultures 57

4.2 Characteristics of individualistic and collectivist cultures 60

4.3 Chronemic Assessment Instrument 68

10.1 Basic human development indicators for sub-Saharan Africa 179

10.2 Cultural dimensions 182

12.1 May 2007 World Audit 230

12.2 Power distance, degree of individualism, masculinity, uncertainty

avoidance and long- versus short-term orientation scores among

Central and Eastern European countries 231

12.3 Public relations evolution in Poland 242

13.1 Bentele’s German public relations periods 272

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List of figures

1.1 Cumulative Cultural Competence Spiral 13

2.1 World illiteracy rate 1970 to 2015 (projected) 25

12.1 The role of transitional public relations 234

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Foreword

Hugh M. Culbertson

The young discipline of public relations has given birth to an infant subdiscipline: international

PR. This book bears witness to the fact that the infant, while still striving for maturity, has at least

reached early adolescence.

The book is at least the fourth – all published since 1996 – that seeks to define and explain

public relations worldwide. The first two were written by and for scholars and research-oriented

graduate students. The authors and editors sought to describe the practice in varied nations and

regions. Also, they tried to articulate the cultural, political, social and economic forces that have

shaped it in ways that might later be disseminated more widely (Culbertson and Chen 1996; Srisamesh

and Vergig 2003).

This volume defines public relations practice in a readable way for a larger audience – gradu￾ate and advanced undergraduate students, and practitioners gearing up to work in and with

societies other than their own. The authors are experienced executive-level practitioners turned

academics. They present a balanced, comprehensive look at the scholarly literature that helps shape

international public relations in 2008, and they do so with a lively text.

Prior to the 1980s, the public relations discipline developed largely in North America and Europe.

Early writings on international PR sought to help Western – especially US – practitioners survive

abroad (Wouters 1991). However, it soon became apparent that public relations practiced in, say,

Beijing or Manila differed greatly from that in New York, London, or Caracas. That realization

came about partly as a by-product of three developments in Western scholarship. First was a focus

on clients’ social, political and economic contexts (SPE) in domestic PR. The author of this foreword

noted two problems when he began teaching in the mid-1960s. Most research in the field then

consisted of evaluation surveys conducted at or near the end of a program or a year’s work. While

useful in pleasing a client and recruiting new clients, such research often came too late to aid plan￾ning or execution. It seemed a bit like “crying over spilled milk”. There was a need for front-end

research done in time to help set policy and communicate about it. Such research could help the

practitioner understand a client’s social, political, economic, and cultural contexts.

Spurred by his brightest students, the author conducted a series of applied studies to clarify

such contexts and the theoretical notions useful in articulating them. He and three former

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x Foreword

students eventually summarized their work in a book (Culbertson et al. 1993). They argued that

such analysis was especially important in light of a second major development in the field: issues

management. This concept came to the fore in the 1960s and 1970s, a time of great turmoil, change

and challenge in the United States. Organizations found that they needed to be proactive, not

reactive, in identifying emerging problems and issues before these reached crisis proportions. Only

then could communicators prepare clients and publics for what might happen in the future. The

saying “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” kept coming to mind as the author

discovered an increasing number of practitioners writing not only for clients’ publics but also to

inform clients themselves. This trend, in turn, brought to the fore a third concept: environmental

scanning. Identifying issues as they appeared on the distant horizon, in time to act and speak effec￾tively, required careful study.

Among the concepts that seemed most important in defining SPE contexts were cultural and

subcultural beliefs. These were stable assumptions held by all – or almost all – members of a soci￾ety or other large group with shared identities and interests. Such ideas deal, at a basic level, with

what is, what is right, and what is important. They help shape fundamental values and behavior

(Culbertson et al. 1993, pp. 53–63).

As he began to study abroad, the author found that differences in such beliefs appeared to

help account for many problems in cross-cultural communication. For example, gift-giving by a

client to government officials or suppliers smacks of bribery to Americans, yet it is built into the

cultures of the Philippines, Thailand, China and other Asian societies. How can one condemn as

clearly unethical a practice that his or her host culture mandates?

The author learned more about the role of culture – as well as of political and economic devel￾opment – as he advised a dissertation on Chinese public relations by Ni Chen, a contributor to

this volume (Chen 1992). The two of them edited the first book that really sought to describe

and define public relations in varied nations as practiced and viewed by people in those nations

(Culbertson and Chen 1996).

In that book, two formulations turned out to be especially seminal. First, Dejan Vergig, Larissa

Grunig and James Grunig defined nine generic principles that appeared to hold regardless of

culture (Vergig et al. 1996). (See Chapter 1 of this book for a summary of these ideas.) Second,

James Van Leuven focused on public relations evolution in developing countries, especially the

rapidly developing “Little Tigers” of Asia: Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea and Malaysia (Van

Leuven 1996). He identified three stages that seemed to occur sequentially as nations go through

the development process:

1. Nation building. As they escaped from colonial rule after World War II, many new countries

had ethnic groups with major language and cultural differences as well as long-standing rival￾ries. If a country is to hang together, citizens must develop a sense of sharedness – a belief

that they have important things in common. Only then will they be likely to pay taxes to a

central government, salute a common flag and even die in battle to protect that flag.

2. Marketing support. Any nation needs a viable economy. And that requires marketing and

public relations support to help attract investment, stimulate sales and enhance economic

growth.

3. Regional interdependence. This requires a feeling that countries can profit from trade and foreign￾policy alliances in an interdependent world that continually seems smaller. At the very least,

they need to avoid blowing one another up – a real danger with modern weapons of mass

destruction.

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Analysis of these stages informed later writings in the field, including this book, as they sought

to articulate issues relating to democratization, economic growth, and changing political structures

(Tilson and Alozie 2004).

In their comprehensive volume, Sriramesh and Vergig (2003) focused heavily on two other

seminal ideas. First, public relations practice is shaped in many ways by certain cultural dimen￾sions proposed by Hofstede (1984, 2001). These include:

1. Power distance: the extent to which people in a society feel large differences in status, power

and wealth are inevitable, natural and acceptable.

2. Collectivism-individualism: the degree to which one feels the group or collective is of primary

importance – or that it exists largely to safeguard individuals and meet their needs.

3. Masculinity–femininity: whether people feel men and women occupy clearly different roles

(the masculine view), or whether both can appropriately play the same roles (a feminist

perspective). Obviously, as women have become more numerous and prominent in public

relations, business and politics around the world, gender issues have come to the fore.

4. Uncertainty avoidance: tolerance for ambiguity. Some cultures emphasize a need to wait and

see before acting, while others demand action “right now”. If not appreciated, this difference

can serve as an obstacle to cross-cultural communication.

A second key concept in the Sriramesh–Vergig volume was the character and reach of media

within a society. In the United States, early public relations practitioners had focused heavily –

often almost solely – on getting their clients’ names and programs disseminated via print and over

the airwaves. In recent years, this has changed among Americans for various reasons. And, in some

nations, use of the media as a primary communication tool has encountered several obstacles. Thus,

it seemed important to study:

1. Media outreach in a nation. Often illiteracy and lack of resources make print media and

television unavailable to key publics.

2. Media control by government or business. Where media outlets are controlled by a narrow

éite, they tend to slant and select news in ways that reduce credibility.

3. Media access. At times, because of government policy and media-management constraints,

important sectors of society have little chance to disseminate ideas or information via the

media. This may necessitate identification of alternative channels (Sriramesh and Vergig 2003,

pp. 11–17).

Taken as a whole, this volume and other recent literature call attention to at least six continua

that seem crucial for communicators and scholars around the world. Students need to study each

chapter of this volume with an eye to discerning where any given nation stands on these continua.

Included are:

1. Emphasis on stability versus freedom. Developing-nation governments tend to restrict freedom

on the grounds that doing so is necessary to ensure stability as needed to bring economic and

political development.

2. Freedom from economic want versus freedom of expression. Critics of US scholarship and prac￾tice tend to claim it emphasizes free expression while ignoring freedom from poverty and its

many by-products.

Foreword x i

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xii Foreword

3. Freedom to speak and write versus the ability to do so. Westerners and colonial administrators

have sometimes ignored the idea that it does little good to be free to vote, speak and write

when one lacks the resources, education and infrastructure to do so (Habermas 1989, pp. 118–38)

or the felt power to do so (Friere 1997, pp. 25–51).

4. A focus on what benefits society – intranationally and worldwide – as well as partisan benefits

for a client or another narrow sector of society. Some critics bemoan excessive fragmentation in

today’s world (Putnam 2000).

5. A focus on public–public relations as well as client–public relations. The latter seems to be cen￾tral in writings about the so-called IABC Excellence study and the concept of symmetry (LA

Grunig et al. 2002). Yet public–public relations becomes crucial as one deals with misunder￾standing, a need for cooperation, and tolerance among ethnic, racial and religious groups (Daye

2004). This, in turn, suggests some convergence between public relations and peace studies.

We now note some quantitative evidence that international public relations is coming of age as

a field of study. The four books noted here, including this one, offer chapters analyzing practice

in at least thirty-eight nations (ten in Asia, four in Central and South America, two in Australia

[Australia and New Zealand], nine in Africa, Latin America and Southeast Asia).

Obviously there are gaps. The literature discusses some 192 separate nations in today’s world.

However, regional books and growing emphasis on the international realm fill some of these gaps.

The field has “taken off ” with amazing speed in just a little over a decade. And, as athletic coaches

might say, the current volume, with its blend of academic and practitioner expertise, really does

“take it to the next level”.

References

Chen, N., 1992. Public relations in China: The introduction and development of an occupational field. Unpublished

doctoral dissertation. Ohio University, Athens, Ohio.

Culbertson, H. M. and Chen N., 1996. International Public Relations: A Comparative Analysis. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence

Erlbaum Associates.

Culbertson, H. M., Jeffers, D. W., Stone, D. B. and Terrell, M., 1993. Social, Political, and Economic Contexts in

Public Relations: Theory and Cases. Hilldale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Daye, R., 2004. Political Forgiveness: Lessons from South Africa. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books.

Friere, P., 1997. Pedagogy of the Oppressed. New York: Continuum.

Grunig, L. A., Grunig, J. E. and Dozier, D. M., 2002. Excellent Public Relations and Effective Organizations: A Study

of Communication Management in Three Countries. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Habermas, J., 1989. The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.

Hofstede, G., 1984. Cultural Consequences: International Differences in Work-related Values. Beverly Hills, Calif.:

Sage.

Hofstede, G., 2001. Culture’s Consequences: Comparing Values, Behaviors, Institutions, and Organizations across

Nations. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage.

Putnam, R. D., 2000. Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Sriramesh, K. and Veruiu, D., 2003. The Global Public Relations Handbook: Theory, Research, and Practice. Mahwah,

NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Tilson, D. J. and Alozie, E. C., 2004. Toward the Common Good: Perspectives in International Public Relations.

Boston, Mass.: Pearson Education.

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Van Leuven, J. K., 1996. Public relations campaigns in South East Asia from nation-building to regional inter￾dependence. In H. M. Culbertson and N. Chen (eds), International Public Relations: A Comparative Analysis

(pp. 207–22). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Veruiu, D., Grunig, L. A., and Grunig, J. D., 1996. Global and specific principles of public relations: Evidence

from Slovenia. In H. M. Culbertson and N. Chen (eds), International Public Relations: A Comparative Analysis

(pp. 31–65). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Wouters, J., 1991. International Public Relations. New York: amacom.

Foreword xiii

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Preface

In the mid-1990s, I attended the annual conference of the Public Relations Society of America

while completing my doctoral work at Ohio University. An eager student of the emerging field

of international public relations, and studying under the tutelage of international public relations

pioneer Dr Hugh Culbertson, I was anxious to consume all the wisdom I could from this gathering

of top professionals. There were disappointingly few workshop sessions addressing the international

component of our profession, but I noted that one session on the topic was to be led by the head

of one of the world’s largest public relations firms. I knew I would have to get to the room early

to get in, and even then expected that I might have to settle for standing room only. I arrived in

plenty of time, delighted to capture a seat near the front. When the workshop starting time arrived,

I was stunned to note that only a dozen professionals had drifted into this room, which could have

accommodated seventy-five.

The noted speaker began his presentation, describing how his firm was increasingly establishing

branch offices around the globe. He said that he populated these offices with top managers from

the United States, professionals with deep professional experience. For subordinate levels, how￾ever, he tapped young and eager local nationals. These local nationals, he said, lacked the educa￾tional and experiential background to lead, but they were ambitious and quick studies. He went

on to describe some of the clients and issues he and his teams were handling.

When question time came, a few of the original dozen audience members had already departed,

so the session became more of a discussion among a core of interested members. I asked the speaker

how long he predicted it might be before these young and eager local nationals he was hiring learned

the ropes adequately and were able to step out on their own, and how long it might then be before

their firms began opening branch offices in the United States to compete with the speaker’s global

firm on his own home territory. It was a serious question, but the response from the speaker and

remaining audience members was, to my shock and annoyance, amused laughter. Comments revealed

a conviction that such a notion was preposterous, that US public relations supremacy was enduring

and unchallengeable. I suspect that there might have been a similar response had US automakers

been asked in 1960 how soon the fledgling Japanese auto industry might be competing equally

with Ford, General Motors and Chrysler, and we all know what has transpired in that arena. I

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