Measurement Conferences: The 12th Annual IPRRC

See these and hundreds more photos from the conference here.

4 Themes from the 12th Annual IPRRC
International Public Relations Research Conference Round Up

To learn more about this year's IPRRC, which was held in early March in Miami, see this post on Katie Paine's Measurement Blog. To learn more about the IPRRC in general, see this page on the IPR website.

by Katie Delahaye Paine

Out of more than 100 public relations research papers presented at this year's IPRRC, there were four themes that stood out:

Theme #1:
Where in the World is Public Relations?

In Kyrgyzstan
The thing I love about the IPRRC is that it's one of the few places on earth, and certainly the only conference in the U.S., that someone will report on the state of PR in Kyrgyzstan. As it turns out the state of PR in Kyrgyzstan is pretty muddy, actually, according to research conducted by Elira Turdubaev. She surveyed 64 organizations with in-house PR departments, and got a response rate of 58% -- that's about ten times the average response rate from PR types in the states. Interestingly, 9 out of firms said that their PR Efforts were secret.

Like the US, most Kyrgyzstani firms say they use PR to manage their reputation and communicate key messages. Their PR mission is to promote the organization and form and support positive images of the organization. While half the participants said that PR is independent of marketing only one in four separate PR from marketing. In reality, it sounds like most Kyrgyzstani PR departments are publicity and lobbying machines. The biggest difference between Kyrgyzstani and Western PR is that paying for publicity is a standard, accepted practice in Kyrgyzstani, as opposed to the West where, if it happens, no one admits it.

In Guatemala
A similar study of PR practice in Guatemala was presented by Karina Garcia-Ruano, PHD candidate at Michigan State University. Her study focused on what variables impacted PR. Garcia-Ruana conducted in depth interviews with 10 experts -- all 1st generation PR professionals in Guatemala. Bribery (known as fafa) still exists, and there are other broad cultural differences between our view of PR and our peers in Guatemala. Overall, there is an umbrella role of culture, which Garcia-Ruanao described as a "feel-it culture," heavy on flower-language and informality. Garcia-Ruano also found that there is great importance placed on relationships and interpersonal trust, in part a product of the decade's long civil war that left the population with a low level of trust in institutions. There is little use of the Internet outside the major cities, and, as a result, there's a significant gap between rural and urban media.

Theme #2:
Measuring Relationships with Voters Redux

I'd expected more studies of the 2008 election to be presented, but in fact there was just one, conducted by Trent Seltzer and Weiwu Zhang of Texas Tech. They studied the impact of relationships maintenance strategies on relationships with political parties during the presidential election. What they found was somewhat surprising. It turns out that length of time spent in a relationship with a political party does not necessarily predict how you feel about that party. Nor does high level of party identification result in more favorable relationships. Interestingly the best predictor of favorable relationships was a high level of mediated communications (i.e., media coverage). What Seltzer and Zhang concluded was that more two-way communications results in more favorable relationships. While this is hardly surprising, it may explain why Obama won; his campaign was all about two-way communications, while McCain's was much more a traditional one-way approach. They also found that favorable relationships result in higher level of engagements, i.e., getting out the vote, and volunteering.

Theme #3:
Most Interesting New Tools

CSRPedia
Mary Ann Ferguson, a professor in the Department of Public Relations, College of Journalism and Communications at the University of Florida, did a wonderful study of 1009 corporations that have received CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) awards in the last two years. She put her findings into the CSRPedia – a database and wiki of CSR activities. What she found was that companies that receive at least one award for their CSR activities had significantly higher revenues and profits than those that don't win awards. Interestingly companies that win the most awards are in the US, Northern, Europe, Switzerland, Netherlands and the UK. Companies in Asia and Latin America were significantly less likely to win CSR accolades. PepsiCo, Marriott, Texas Instruments, Microsoft, Kraft Foods and Nike were the biggest winners. More info is in the CSRpedia database that Ferguson created as a result of her research.

Digital Library for PR
Michael Daily teamed up with Benita Steyn of Cape Peninsula University of Technology in Cape Town to propose guidelines for a digital library/archive for the public relations function. While their research is still a work in progress, there's no doubt that this is a tool that is desperately needed in our profession.

Theme #4:
PR in Tough Times

Brigham Young University professors Kevin Stoker and Susan Walton presented a paper on corporate compassion in a time of downsizing that was among the most relevant and immediately useful. (I've already cited it half a dozen times since I heard it last week.) The paper focused on the corporate use of networks of ex-employees, also known as alumni networks, as a tool to survive a down economy. As they wrote, "Companies may view these relationships as temporary, expendable, and utilitarian, but survivors and victims of downsizing care about these relationships and act to maintain them"

Their premise is that, "Organizations that do not value or care about existing and former relationships damage those who remain with the company as well as those laid off. Through alumni networks, the public relations function of an organization can institutionalize an ethic of care and can protect and promote the reputation of the company even in times of dramatic downsizing."

They presented 4 basic PR imperatives for dealing with former employees:

1. Maintain stakeholder relationships
This is the primary function of PR, and to ignore alumni employees as a stakeholders is a mistake, Stoker and Walton assert. The notion that organizations only deal with people from hire to fire, rather than as part of a lifelong employee lifecycle, is obsolete.

Stoker and Walton suggest that maintaining good relationships with ex-employees not only mitigates negative chatter in the blogosphere, but also places value on workplace relationships. Especially since many Americans spend more time every day with their co-workers than with their spouses.

2. Identify and speak to audience self interests
PR departments and practitioners, Stoker and Walton wrote, can listen to the needs and interests of this stakeholder group and thus, "...serve in a counseling role to remind management of its responsibilities and obligations to all key publics."

Employee alumni groups, they say, can be highly useful as a source of trusted knowledge and information. According to Stoker and Walton, 42% of employees turn to a current or former colleague for information if they have a work-related question. Alumni networks accomplish this by enabling current employees to easily access knowledgeable trusted people.

Alumni networks are also a great way to provide job opportunities, to recruit experienced staff, and to sway prospective employees towards accepting job offers.

3. Articulate the value of what you are doing
Former employees can also help articulate the messages of their former employers. Stoker and Watson cite Select Minds, that saved $1.6 million in headhunter fees thanks to its alumni network.

4. Maintain ongoing communications
Companies who refuse to engage in conversation with their alumni do so at their peril: The conversation will take place with or without them.

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