Research in Brief

Public Relations Review 39 (2013) 591–593

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Public Relations Review

Research in Brief

The role of public relations in corporate social responsibility

programs in the Colombian electricity sector

Angela Preciado-Hoyos ∗

School of Communications, University of La Sabana, Campus Puente del Común, Autopista Norte de Bogotá, Km 7, Chía, Cundinamarca,

Edificio K, Piso 3, Colombia

a r t i c l e i n f o

Article history:

Received 11 February 2013

Received in revised form 14 June 2013

Accepted 3 July 2013

Keywords:

Public relations

Social responsibility

Corporate responsibility

Colombian electricity sector

a b s t r a c t

This study investigates the role of public relations in managing social responsibility in a

group of Colombian electricity sector companies. According to the results, communication

professionals who support social responsibility programs do not hold a unified concept of

public relations. Furthermore, not all of them acknowledge the currently prevailing model,

whichregards thepractice ofpublic relations as seeking bothharmony withits environment

and mutual benefit with the public interest.

© 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction

In studies dealing with the practice of public relations, it is stated that the practice of public accountability and organiza￾tions work best whenthey aligncorporate responsibility communication withthe concerns ofthe organization’s stakeholders

(Dawkins, 2004). This approach allows public relations to support processes that strengthen social responsibility. While this

can be considered a way to interact with stakeholders, when the relationship is based on this view of public relations, it

generates benefits for the organization, considers specific aspects of the group and promotes the ethical behavior of the

entities while providing methodologies and guidelines for managing conflict and controversy. Due to its social nature, pub￾lic relations and corporate responsibility both involve communication, making them complementary. However, this is not

the only link between the two fields. Some have defined public relations as the relationship that management holds with

stakeholders or public audiences (Ferrari & Franca, 2011). Here, public audiences are assumed to be, in general terms, indi￾viduals or groups who can affect the stability of the organization or are affected by their actions. Similarly, stakeholder

theory (Freeman & Phillips, 2002), which is used in many organizations to target corporate social responsibility policies and

practices, implies that management must work to balance the interests of different groups that hold relationships with the

company and to define stakeholders as any group or individual who can affect or is affected by managerial actions. Social

responsibility is a process in which stakeholder expectations are linked with those of the company through connections and

dialog.

In the majority of studies discussing organizational communication, the field of public relations is the discipline that

has most widely analyzed and discussed the concepts of relationships and publics. To understand the role that present-day

organizations ascribe to public relations in the management of social responsibility, research was conducted on a group of

Colombian electricity sector companies.

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E-mail addresses: [email protected], [email protected]

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

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2013.07.004