Learning by leading

Public Relations Review 39 (2013) 609–611

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Public Relations Review

Research in Brief

Learning by leading: Integrating leadership in public

relations education for an enhanced value

Juan Meng∗

Department of Advertising and Public Relations, The University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, United States

a r t i c l e i n f o

Article history:

Received 30 May 2013

Received in revised form

15 September 2013

Accepted 20 September 2013

Keywords:

Public relations

Leadership development

Leadership education

Pedagogy

a b s t r a c t

Twin surveys of senior public relations executives and public relations majors compared

perceptual similarities and differences in leadership qualities, skill development sources,

and unique features of public relations leadership. The perceptual gap revealed what stu￾dents believe to be important or less important in the self-actualization process as future

leaders. The results offered pedagogical recommendations on how to integrate leadership

training in public relations education to prepare students with a sustainable competitive

advantage.

© 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction

As the public relations related job market continues to become increasingly competitive, many employers have become

more selective and demand more managerial and leadership traits in new hires (Broom & Dozier, 1986; Dozier & Broom,

1995). Organizations are interested in hiring graduates to fill their immediate needs for public relations practitioners along

with their future need for communication leaders. Thus, it is important for us to identify the perceptual gaps in desired

leadership qualities, leadership skill development sources, and unique leadership features between current (i.e., senior

public relations executives) and future leaders (i.e., PR majors who will get into the job seeking and hiring process very

shortly). Identifying such perceptual gaps may aid public relations educators in pinpointing the specific types of knowledge,

skills, and activities that are of most importance to organizations in order to help PR majors identify sources to sharpen

leadership skills and pursue opportunities to enhance individual value as a future leader (Neff, 2002; Thayer, 1986; The

Professional Bond, 2006). Therefore, one leading research question guided this study: As collective groups, do significant

differences exist between senior PR executives and PR majors regarding their perceptions of desired leadership qualities,

leadership development sources, and unique features? If yes, what are these differences? Three ranking questions were

used to identify perceptual gaps on investigated subjects. Such comparison can not only enhance our understanding in

leadership from current leaders, but more importantly, it can enrich public relations education by integrating leadership

training into teaching content and philosophy to prepare PR majors with a sustainable competitive advantage to lead in the

rapidly changing profession.

∗ Correspondence to: Department of Advertising and Public Relations, Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, The University of Georgia,

Athens, GA 30602-3018, United States. Tel.: +1 706 542 2173; fax: +1 706 542 2183.

E-mail address: [email protected]

0363-8111/$ – see front matter © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2013.09.005