research paper topics related to public relations

144 Public Relations Essay Topics & Examples

Looking for inspiring public relations topics? This field is really worth exploring!

• 🔝 Top 10 PR Topics
• 🏆 Best PR Essay Examples
• 🕵 Current PR Topics to Research

👍 Interesting PR Topics to Write About

• 🔥 Hot PR Assignment Topics
• 🎓 Controversial PR Research Topics

❓ Public Relations Discussion Questions

In your public relations essay, you might want to focus on mass communication or media relations. Corporate PR is another current public relations assignment topic. In this article, we’ve gathered hot PR topics that will be suitable for essays, research papers, presentations, theses, and other projects. A collection of public relations essay examples is a nice bonus!

🔝 Top 10 Public Relations Topics

• Public relations in business
• History of public relations
• Crisis management in political public relations
• Public relations in non-governmental field
• Ethical issues of public relations
• Public relations and advertising: compare and contrast
• Social media marketing as one of the key PR tactics
• Audience targeting as a PR technique
• Public relations campaign: the main stages
• Classification of the publics in PR

🏆 Best Public Relations Essay Examples

• The Coca Cola Public Relations: PR Strategy and Examples — Case Study Example The Coca Cola Company is an international firm based in the United States and is one of the leading manufacturers of soft drinks and other related products.
• Discussion on Grunig and Hunt’s Public Relations Model In regard to this model, Grunig and Hunt propose that communication is two-way between the organization and the public. In these models, the writers present communication to the public and the organization and therefore the […]
• Four Models of Public Relations So, the use of the press agentry model can be considered the most harmful when applied with the purpose of gaining money whereas the application of a two-way symmetric model is considered to be the […]
• Public Relations and its importance in Modern Society Public relations is the procedure of checking the flow of information between an institution and its community. This became a success and thus led to creation of awareness to the Americans of the influence that […]
• Public Relations However, it is important to understand that balancing the company’s need and those of the customer is a crucial step, and any strategy used by the company in the marketing process must be guided by […]
• Model of Excellence Theory in Public Relations Department For the public relations department, establishing good relationship with the clients and people associated with the company is most important and more important is the way to retain this relationship.
• Toyota Company’s Public Relations and Marketing The recall crisis has led to the development of a negative perception and public image of Toyota Company. The internal society within the Toyota Company forms the first and most important stakeholders in this campaign.
• Public Relations in Healthcare and Their Features Practically, healthcare PR has many objectives, the most vital of which are the improvement of the quality of care, the establishment of a good reputation, and the reduction of cost of care.
• The Coca-Cola Company’s Public Relations The Coca-Cola Company uses paid, earned, shared, and owned media to advertise its products to its customers to increase its sales.
• Fire and emergency public relations management The video publications are significant in the provision of information to the public and employees as well as educating the fire service employees on issues concerning fire and emergency management.
• Public Relations Campaign To understand the problem at hand, it is important to give a brief overview of the project and the need to launch the campaign.
• McDonalds-Public Relations Practice in Global Contexts Like other retail organizations, McDonald’s believed that they have a social and moral responsibility for the people around the world to produce a positive impact to the stakeholders although the bottom line is the concern […]
• Rex Harlow as a Historical Figure in Public Relations Rex Harlow is considered one of the most influential pioneers in the history of public relations. Harlow’s involvement in the Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce and experience in publication provoked a public relations interest.
• Advertising, Publicity, and Public Relations Publicity is the act of drawing the attention of the media in order to improve the visibility of a brand, product or a company in the public. Second, publicity is cost-effective and provides a lot […]
• Public Relations and Relationship Marketing The organizers of the 2011 Mobile Research conference should consider using public relations and relationship marketing in order to ensure that the event promotion is successful.
• Public Relations Strategy and Campaigns The main aim of the strategy is to build a viable relationship between a company and its target audience. The main goal of the strategy was to increase the sales of soda globally.
• “Public Relations – Strategies and Tactics” by Wilcox A public relations practitioner of a company is supposed to identify the strategy with whom the company should have relationships. The department of public relations should assure the clients that Evergreen flooring system is committed […]
• Public Relations and Their Functions One of the common scenarios with organizations is the characteristic of any organization trying to influence the general public hence the public relations initiatives help the organization to develop a good understanding of the organization […]
• Public Relations Practice Improvement by Public Opinion In order to understand how this happens, it is necessary to define a public opinion, examine its connections to public relations, describe what improvements in public relations mean, and explain the ways in which understanding […]
• Apple and Samsung Companies Virtual Public Relations According to Gregory, a website is like an ambassador of the firm to the world, and the impression it gives will be assumed to be the real image of the firm it represents.
• How Does Internal Public Relations Impact the Employee Productivity and Loyalty in Saudi Arabia? This study therefore intends to synthesize the issue of internal public relations and how it impacts the productivity and loyalty of employees in Saudi Arabia.

🕵 Current Public Relations Topics to Research

• Public Relations in Not-For-Profit Organisations In the context of non-profit organisations, PR departments can be viewed as semi-autonomous systems that can make their independent decisions with regard to the type of information that should be shared with the public. It […]
• Essential Foundations of the Public Relations According to Curtin and Gaither, there exists four main criticisms of the paradigm of the public relations: “the definition of public relations as a management function; the reliance on functional, transmission models of communication; the […]
• Public relations and sales promotion It will analyze them based on the regularity of the chosen strategy, the target audience which covers the customers, the potential customers and the community and also PR and its impact.
• Public Relations and Crisis Management Link The significance of developing a CMP lies in the fact that it aids in the process of collecting the necessary information to deal with the crisis.
• The Airbnb Firm’s New Public Relations Campaign As a result of this, the company is available in a majority of the countries in the world, which gives it an advantage over local entities.
• Public Relations Issues in the Music Industry TikTok is at the top of the funnel, and the issue with content-based marketing is that it diverts attention from the artists and interaction with their profiles.
• Henry Booth House’s Marketing and Public Relations The identified elements of a well-developed marketing and public relations plan are consistent with the current trends in business and marketing.
• Public Relations Campaign for Hewlett-Packard’s Recycling Program in Britain Part of the activities of this program is the sensitization of consumers on e-waste and the recycling of computers and their components.
• Burke’s Pentad: Public Relations, Social Theory, and Rhetoric On the example of one of Jeff Wall’s photographs, it is illustrated how the motivation of an actor in this paradigm can be described in different ways in terms of the viewer’s focus.
• Public Relations Plan and Implementation Strategies The goal of the training will be to ensure the team develops the confidence to sell the brand to the consumers.
• Zappos Corporation Public Relations Zappos is one of the corporations that have handled the issue of public relations well in the past. Being a company that was in the limelight, it needed a way to give back to the […]
• Framing: Social Media and Public Relations Notably, the media echoed the impact of the government’s behavior on increasing students’ tuition fees, citing that it would limit the students’ ability to pay the debts amidst the prevailing economic problems.
• Walmart: New Perspectives on International Public Relations Walmart is one of the largest multinational corporations, which uses its public relations in order to establish its brand and influence public opinion regarding the company.
• Careers in Marketing, Branding & Public Relations Among the competencies of marketing, a specialist is the way of presentation of the product, the methods of informing the target audience about it, and collecting and analyzing the data for evaluating the success of […]
• Public Relations Plan: Toyota In particular, the most significant among the dilemmas that have currently emerged around Toyota is in serious allegations on the level of quality of automobiles, produced by the company.
• Chemco Crisis Resolution and Public Relations In the real estate case mentioned in the case study, it is fundamental to note that the real estate company is in a crisis hence the need to resolve the conflict.
• Public Relations Representative Possible Strategies If Erickson decides to come to the governor, he will have to announce a request to stop the fertilizer production in order to clarify the circumstances and to address problem-solving methods.
• Public Relations Agencies in Business Development As for the opinions of the heavyweight people and organizations on the agency, they seem to be undivided, and this is a result of the hard work of public relations specialists from Iris PR.
• Ethics in Public Relations in Three Big Companies Lastly, Facebook claims it enlisted the help of the PR company to verify people’s negative attitudes towards the inclusion of their Facebook data in Google’s Social Circles.
• Public Relations: The Four Models This is because the three models involve use of a reciprocal communication method that enables corporations to understand the public’s worries while enabling the public to appreciate the firm as a well meaning entity.
• Public Relations Campaign Harbour Town Rural Council Green Gift group; why are the locals against or in support of the plan; what are the issues in conflict between the locals and the council, the green Gift and the council, the locals and […]
• Roe v Wade: Public Relations Industry Therefore, the burden of responsibility lies on this very industry to heal the wounds of the past and address the concerns of rights groups on both sides of the debate.
• The Role of Journalists and Public Relations Professionals in Information Sphere Hurst et al noted that journalists are usually concerned with the interests of the public and that they use the media to communicate to the public but for the public relation officers they usually release […]
• Public Relations. Press Release of J.Sanisbury It is precisely for gaining a larger market share and serving more customers, that JS has launched its money-saving and discount voucher schemes, off the counter to add value to client purchases and offer a […]
• Public Relations Law in Australia Defamation cases in Australia are said to be too expensive in terms of time, reputation and money. Defamation cases in Australia are said to be too expensive in terms of time, reputation and money.
• Public Relations and Crisis Plans for Schools The members of the school will develop a good reputation with the general community. The idea, operation and basis of the relationship should be well known by the community and school.
• Public Relations and Integrated Marketing Communications in Organization Under the globalization regime, with the availability of a wide variety of tools for marketing communication to cater to a diverse target segment located in geographically diverse regions across the globe, an integrated approach is […]
• What the Public Thinks About Public Relations? Public relations is one of the marketing communications disciplines, best thought of as an arsenal of weapons employed to induce adoption of an advocacy position, trial or purchase of a product or service, and assent […]
• Public Relations Efforts Evaluation Taking into account the objectives of the rideshare week, it is necessary to emphasize, that the increase of participants may be defined either using the registration data of Ohio Rideshare, or arranging surveys and questionnaires […]
• Public Relations: a Method to Organize and Boost Sales In any business situation, the public relations role is to harmonize the internal and external workings of an organization. To enhance the corporate image of the organization and boost the sales of the products and […]
• Aramco Company’s Public Relations Department Considering this, the establishment of a public relations department in Aramco is important, and the present report aims to demonstrate why the launch of such a unit can provide the company with advantages in dealing […]
• Effects of Public Relations in the United Arab Emirates Arguments made in the essay will support the premise that public relations are equally important in the strategic positioning of countries on both the global and regional levels.
• Public Relations and Sponsorships: Emirates Airlines and the NFL in 2020 Super Bowl Super Bowl is often held in the first week of February and it involves the winners of the National and American Football Conferences.
• Obesity: Public Relations Campaign It will aid in educating youths about the dangers of childhood obesity and the factors that expose them to the condition.
• Public Relations: Profession and Practice 2 This gives a good image of the company since the community feels part of the organization, and, therefore, the community supports fully the activities of the organization.
• Australian Volunteers International: Public Relations The intention of this proposal is to endorse a conservation volunteer campaign that is aimed at reducing the pollution levels in China, which is among the countries that have high levels of environmental degradation in […]
• Public Relations Plan Implementation The interview is to be properly developed, the questions are to be directed at understanding why people still refuse to use the services of the company and to buy their products rather than search for […]
• Sunrise Ltd.’s Public Relations Management In the aspect of the power of buyers, it is clear that Sunrise Ltd.is under threat, considering the value of the houses that are traded to the real estate clients.
• Canadian Public Relations and Management Functions The functions within this specific field of study can make or break a particular person or corporation since it has been noted that the perception of the general public towards a particular entity can result […]
• Public Relations in Canada and the United States Practicing public relations in Canada and the United States has both differences and similarities in terms of educational orientation, required skills, and constructs involved in communication and public relations integration.
• Augmented Reality in Public Relations Domain The rationale behind this suggestion has to do with the fact that the integration of AR into the very philosophy of PR is fully consistent with the most fundamental principles of the human brain’s functioning.
• Public Relations: Ethics, Technology, Communication The study addresses the problem of ethics in public relations by proving that it is a global issue and is implemented worldwide.

🔥 Hot Public Relations Assignment Topics

• Public Relations and Marketing History: The Stages of Development and Progress It is reasonable to review the literature on this subject matter to get a better understanding of the stages of development and progress that was shown over the years.
• Press Secretary Profession in Public Relations This study aims to research the history of the public relations industry and to examine the effects of government regulations, the internet, and the international community on the industry.
• The Online Public Relations Concept Organizational transparency can be measured by identifying the degree to which it shares the information and to which it allows contact with people who can provide this information.
• E-Newsletters: Online Public Relations Further, the emergence of the internet has provided a wide variety of approaches that organizations can use to reach their customers and potential users of their products in the market.
• Job Advert for a Public Relations Manager This paper, therefore, addresses the implications of the operational gap and provides a memo to a hiring manager to solve the issue.
• Excellent Public Relations: Organizational Factors The chapter supports the view that PR is not only to be appreciated and valued by the C-suite but the representatives of PR departments should also be present in the dominant coalition.
• Public Relations: Media Tools and Communication Technology The central goal of transparency is it to ensure that all the critical information about the company is available to consumers, and it helps to increase the level of trust.
• Etisalat’s Entrepreneurial Decisions and Public Relations The full title of the company is Emirates Telecommunications Corporation, its headquarters are situated in the UAE, and, at the moment, it appears to provide more than a half of all the telecommunication, mobile, and […]
• Wind Future Company’s Public Relations Plan In support of Windy City Council marketing objectives and community relations, the following objectives of its PR plans are: To increase the council’s recognition and credibility.
• Photography Company’s Public Relations Campaign The accomplishment of each aim will be performed following the specificity of the targeted audience that is supposed to be composed of the middle-class population of the Seattle Area. In the meantime, they expect that […]
• Public Relations and Cultural Intermediation The significance of PR studies as such is both theoretical and practical; as for the narrow topic of the study, the primary importance of recognising PR as a cultural mediator, in the view of Edwards, […]
• Effective Writing Skills in Public Relations Writing Same as writing style, the length of a public relations writing is determined by the nature of the message in terms of content, and the need for an in-depth explanation.
• Public Relations in the United Arab Emirates The Middle East Public Relations Association is a not-for-profit establishment with the sole prerogative of securing the welfares of the public relations industry in the region.
• Public Relations: Omnicom Group Website Analysis It is also involved in the control of the flow of information from the client to the media or the public.
• Breast Cancer Public Relations Campaign Audiences It is clear that the breast cancer campaign will target at women in their 30-40s as this is one of the most vulnerable categories of women as they often pay little attention to the […]
• Public Relations and the Big Brother Legislation The current developments in technology that have warranted the development of the internet has reduced the amount of money invested in communication as well as increased the number of people that are communicated to and […]
• Solving Ethical Dilemmas in Public Relations In the case study, the main problem arises from the client’s deceit concerning the independent nature of the scientist testing the products in a bid to ensure a favorable public image of the products to […]
• Strategic Communication in Public Relations Slogans, staged events, and being the first to reach the public and using a sustained approach to saturate the public with campaign messages are old tricks that have passed on from the informal forms of […]
• Public Relations and Customer Loyalty When a firm has a strong brand image in the market, the perception of the public would always be influenced positively towards the firm, and this will increase loyalty of the customers towards the firm.
• Importance of Public Relations and Relationship Marketing The study also intends to incorporate relationship marketing theory to further the understanding of how the organization can manage to achieve the desired goal in a manner that would be convincing to all the stakeholders […]
• Public Relations Theory And Campaign These tools assist in conveying a message to the public, and in return, the public begin to act according to the influence of the communication.

🎓 Controversial Public Relations Research Topics

• A Public Relations Campaign Plan In the USA, for example, there have been complaints regarding increased healthcare costs, a lack of stringent rules to guide people, especially the young, on proper usage of prescribed drugs, inability to take care of […]
• Effectiveness of Public Relations & Relationship Marketing to the Successful Promotion of Beijing 2008 Olympic Games To conclude, it is evident from the assessment that public relations and relationship marketing are effective to the successful promotion of international events.
• The Effectiveness of Public Relations and Relationship Marketing to the Successful Promotion of Winbeldon Championships This is referred to as the relationship marketing and is aimed at achieving the objective of creating customer loyalty for products offered by the company, interaction between the company and the market it serves, and […]
• Public Relations and Relationship Marketing in Business Organisations One of the factors behind this dynamism is the change in the means of communication, the rate of dissemination of information and the advancement of technology.
• Public Relations Campaign Strategy: Newlandia Education Foundation The aim of communication campaign among people in these regions will be to enhance public awareness of NEF activities, increase public participation in activities of NEF, outline the various ways donations and support for NEF […]
• Propaganda, Persuasion and Public Relations For example in the case of the Australia’s cancellation of the Fuel Watch program Senator Xenaphon utilized propaganda stating that Fuel Watch was not an effective means of helping consumers stating the need to tackle […]
• Strategic Planning for Public Relations BP oil’s public relations team had to work round the clock to disseminate information, answer questions and win the hearts and minds of the people closest to the site of the accident.
• Public Relations Plan – New Startup Company The revitalization of the image of the company will be helpful in attracting customers and improving the performance of the company. The chief objective of the company is to restore the image of the company […]
• 2011 NBA Lockout: Public Relations Failure The NBA strike began on the 1st of July, 2011 and is still in effect until the time when the NBA owners and the National Basketball Players Association will make a deal.
• The Effectiveness of Public Relations and Relationship Marketing to the Successful Promotion of an International Event Due to the size and the caliber of the fair, the event attracts world renowned media houses such as BBC, The Telegraph, The Times, among others.
• Regent College Public Relations This includes the definition of the problem, the definition of the audience, identification of the communication avenues and finally employing the best tactics and strategies to ensure that the project is successful.
• Public Relations and Ethical Decisions Basing the discussion on the fact that public relations and ethics include “the client good that is served by professionals public relations, and the principle ordering the theoretical ground of public relations the public pledge […]
• The Effectiveness of Public Relations and Relationship Marketing Unlike the firms in the industries that deal with tangible goods, the firms in the service industry highly depend on their relationships with the customers in order to survive in the market.
• Impact of Social Media on Public Relations Practice Many organizations in the modern world have employed PR personnel to improve the company image and products to the public in a bid to improve the reputation and performance of the firm.
• Social Media and Public Relations In addition, Wikipedia has streamlined the process of information delivery on the internet because it allows individuals to add or delete unwanted information. The media has been accused of bias in almost every instance it […]
• Career Path Paper in Public Relations For an individual to successfully acquire a job opportunity in the field of public relation, the specifications depend on the level of the job.
• Public Relations Strategies and Tactics The process of communication involves the sender encoding the message and sending it through a medium to the receiver, who is required to decode the message. The practitioners in this case are the senders of […]
• The History of Public Relations The intention of these drives was to cultivate a favourable image in the eyes of the public and especially to the consumers and to the society in general.
• Public Relations Plan for Regent’s College In Regent’s College case, the primary objective is to increase the visibility of the school to the public, as well as raise the profile of the institute.
• Integrating Public Relations in Market Communication The objective of the public relations campaign was to communicate the value of Dawn to the customers as being a strong dishwasher.
• What Kinds of Objectives Can Be Accomplished Through Public Relations Research?
• What Are the Practical, Ethical, and Legal Implications of Astroturfing for Public Relations Practitioners Under Current Australian Law?
• What Are the Standard Tools of Public Relations?
• What Is Secondary Research in Public Relations?
• How Can the Dairy Farmers Use Public Relations Coursework?
• How Has the Public Relations Changed Over the Past Decade?
• Is Public Relations More Important than Marketing?
• What Are the Weakness of Public Relations?
• What Are the Types of Public Relations?
• What Is the Main Aim of Public Relations?
• What Are Public Relations Doing in a ‘Place’ Like Place Marketing?
• Why Should Public Relations Professionals Use Facebook?
• What Are Public Relations Research and Evaluation?
• Public Relations: What Does This Job Entail?
• How Do Luxury Fashion Brands Centralize Public Relations?
• How Companies Use Public Relations to Launch New Products and Lessen the Effects of a Crisis?
• What Is the Difference between Marketing and PR?
• What Does a Career in Public Relations Look Like?
• What Comes First Marketing or PR?
• What Is the Difference between Journalism and Public Relations?
• How Psychoanalysis Changed Society With Consumerism and Public Relations?
• Did the Board Cover Any Guidelines Be a Public Relations Policy?
• How Do Public Relations Programs Work?
• What Are the Functions of Public Relations?
• What Are the Three Dominant Approaches in Public Relations Research?
• What Is Research in Public Relations and Advertising?
• Why Honesty and Ethics Are Crucial for Public Relations?
• How Can Teachers Motivate Students to Study Theoretical Modules in Public Relations?
• How Can Public Relations Communications Theory Help Us Understand the Role of New Media?
• How Gender Issues Affect Income in Public Relations?
• Broadcasting Paper Topics
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• Crisis Communication Essay Ideas
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Home » Blog » Dissertation » Topics » Public Relations » Public Relations Dissertation Topics (26 Examples) For Research

Public Relations Dissertation Topics (26 Examples) For Research

Mark Aug 15, 2021 Aug 16, 2021 Public Relations No Comments

Public relation is a practice of deliberately managing the spread of information between the organization and the public. The ability of a company to relate to the public has an impact on its reputation and position. We have listed down some of the most impressive public relations dissertation topics that you can practice on. The […]

Public relation is a practice of deliberately managing the spread of information between the organization and the public. The ability of a company to relate to the public has an impact on its reputation and position. We have listed down some of the most impressive public relations dissertation topics that you can practice on.

A list Of Public Relations Dissertation Topics

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Public Relations Dissertation Topics

Published by Grace Graffin at January 4th, 2023 , Revised On May 3, 2024

Public relations is a communication process that builds a positive relationship between an organisation and its audience. In other words, a public relations professional is responsible for using strategic communication to build a positive image of an organisation or individual through unpaid and earned means. The earned channels leveraged to build a positive image include news and press, media outreach, and social media engagements.

Public relations is a lot different from advertising and is much more difficult, too. Using unpaid means and earned channels for image building is more difficult than employing paid methodologies for creating brand awareness and image.

Given its high importance for a company, a public relations professional has to be the master of his job. Choosing public relations as a career is deemed as a very excellent choice, as its demand and importance are gaining importance day by day.

You might have approached or just entered your final year of the public relations degree and may be required to start working on the dissertation. If that is the case, you may be quite nervous and slightly clueless as to where to begin your work. the entire process starts with choosing a topic that is worthy of being discussed. If you are struggling to select the right topic for your public relations dissertation , here are a few topics along with their research aims for your guidance.

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Topic 1: Investigating the role of target marketing through public relations while confronting the increasing competition in digital marketing.

Research Aim: The research examines the significance of target marketing with the help of public relations while dealing with the rising competition in digital marketing.

Objectives:

• To identify the use of public relations strategies for target marketing practices.
• To analyse the way companies use PR strategies for target marketing to gain competitive advantages in digital marketing activities.
• To suggest ideas about how PR strategies can be used in a better way for target marketing thereby confronting competition in digital marketing.

Topic 2: Examining the role of different PR tools in improving relations between brands and customers – a study on the usefulness of newsletters.

Research Aim: The research aims to identify and assess the usefulness of different PR tools to improve the relationship between brands and customers. For analysing PR tools, this study will specifically focus on the use of newsletters.

• To identify different PR tools and analyse their importance in marketing, especially newsletters.
• To investigate the role of newsletters as a PR tool in improving relations between brands and customers.
• To recommend strategies about how newsletters can be used more strategically to improve relations between brands and customers.

Topic 3: A study on the impact of the rising demand and trend of digital marketing on the radical changes in public relations strategies.

Research Aim: The research aim is to carry out a detailed discussion on the impacts of the growing demands and ongoing trend of digital marketing on the radical changes in public relations strategies in the modern age.

• To describe how demand for digital marketing is increasing and the way it is becoming an important trend.
• To examine how changes in PR strategies are driven by the trend of digital marketing and rising demands for advanced marketing practices.
• To provide recommendations for advancing the PR strategies to respond to the increasing demands of digital marketing.

Topic 4: The impact of paid PR on the brand penetration of UK based tech startups through their social media platforms

Research Aim: The research aim evaluates the impact of paid PR on the brand penetration of UK-based tech startups through their social media platforms

• To shed light on the concept of brand penetration and paid PR
• To examine the significance of brand penetration and paid PR in UK-based tech startups
• To analyse how brand penetration of UK-based tech startups has been impacted by paid PR through their social media platforms

Topic 5: An investigation into the different ways paid PR is impacting the workforce and productivity of the UK-based SMEs

Research Aim: The research aim concentrates on the different ways paid PR is impacting the workforce and productivity of UK-based SMEs.

• To examine the concept of paid PR and its importance in SMEs
• To identify different ways through which the workforce and productivity of the UK-based SMEs can be improved
• To evaluate how paid PR in different ways is impacting the workforce and productivity of UK-based SMEs

Topic 6: Impact of social media on public relations strategies

Research Aim: Even since social media was invented, it has changed the patterns of communication in regular and corporate settings. Social media has inevitably changed how organisations interact with their audience since they are ensuring their presence on relevant platforms.

The main aim of the research will be to identify how social media has affected traditional public relations strategies.

Topic 7: The relationship between public relations and inbound marketing

Research Aim:  Inbound marketing uses multiple marketing tools and techniques such as content marketing, blogs, and social media to create brand awareness and attract new business. Inbound marketing aims to build a relationship of goodwill with the customers, consumers, and prospects which somehow relates to public relations.

The aim of the research is to identify how(if ) public relations and inbound marketing are related to each other by tracing their overlapping characteristics.

Topic 8: Can Public relations and advertising go hand in hand

Research Aim:  Most people confuse public relations for advertising, although they are two separate strategies employed to achieve similar goals for a business. In that regard, it is important to identify if public relations and advertising can go hand in hand and what outcomes they may cause.

Topic 9: Public relations and artificial intelligence

Research Aim:  The future belongs to artificial intelligence. Artificial intelligence refers to technology   that can imitate human cognitive abilities and thus perform tasks that are ascribed to humans. Since artificial intelligence is going to take over, it already has, and it will change the operation of public relations. The responses and communication generated by public relations professionals will be generated by bots geared toward artificial intelligence.

The target of the research will be identifying how and in what capacity artificial intelligence will modify the practice of public relations.

Topic 10: Differences between traditional vs modern public relation practices

Research Aim: The aim of the research will be to compare and contrast the conventional and modern practices of public relations. The researcher will evaluate the key practices employed and the channels selected today versus a couple of decades ago and highlight the key differences. The researcher can identify as many variables as possible to perform a clear and broad comparison between both strategies.

Topic 11: The evolution of the PR agency model

Research Aim: The PR agency model today is not the same as what it used to be a couple of years ago. The researcher will study and evaluate the evolution process of the PR agency model and key changes that have occurred over the period.

Topic 12: Significance of public relations for social media influencers

Research Aim:  Social media influencers are gaining more importance as their influencer marketing is reaching new heights. While they play a significant role in helping brands achieve their marketing goals, they need to build public relations to keep themselves relevant, credible, and valuable to a particular niche. The aim of the research will be to identify how it is important for social media influencers to strengthen their PR strategies.

Topic 13: positive public relations- case study

Research Aim: Public relations is perceived with a negative connotation in general, although it is not like that. The aim of the research is to study and highlight positive public relations through different case studies. The researcher can choose very immediate examples or global examples.

Topic 14: public relations strategy employed by brands in the pandemic

Research Aim: While the pandemic was a shocking situation for all of us, the brands were having multiple problems in terms of managing health as well as the economic crisis at the time. During the pandemic, different responses from different brands were noted, which was a part of the public relations policy. The aim of the research is to identify how brands were able to execute their public relations strategy.

Topic 15: Public relations as an instrument to increase ROI

Research Aim: The main goal of public relations is to increase brand awareness, promote goodwill, and increase demand. The aim of the research is to identify if a public relations campaign can be oriented to increase the ROI and, if it does, How.

How Can ResearchProspect Help?

ResearchProspect writers can send several custom topic ideas to your email address. Once you have chosen a topic that suits your needs and interests, you can order for our dissertation outline service which will include a brief introduction to the topic, research questions , literature review , methodology , expected results , and conclusion . The dissertation outline will enable you to review the quality of our work before placing the order for our full dissertation writing service !

Also Read: Civil Engineering Dissertation Topics

Topic 16: Effectiveness of public relations in the health sector- case study

Research Aim: Public relations is only associated with businesses, politics, and media, but it can be used for just every sector. The research will identify how necessary public relations are and how effective they can be for the health sector by conducting a case study.

Topic 17: Uses and abuses of public relations

Research Aim:  Although public relations strategies are useful and important, they have flaws of their own kind. The flaws lie in how the strategy is prepared and executed and the goals it aims to target.

The aim of the research will be to identify and analyse the uses and abuses of public relations. The researcher can evaluate in what ways public relations can be useful and in what ways they cannot.

Topic 18: Importance of public relations for political parties in the age of technology

Research Aim: The political parties rely on public relations to establish a relationship of goodwill and create a good image in front of the public. With the advent of social media, political parties have to be extra conscious as one act can ruin their established credibility. The study will aim to find out how it has become more important than ever for political parties to focus on public relations for their own benefit.

Also Read: Politics Dissertation Topics

Topic 19: Public relations and journalism

Research Aim:  The aim of the research is to identify how public relations is important in journalism and vice versa. The research will also identify the key similarities between public relations and journalism. The researcher can also point out to what extent public relations is misused by political leaders to influence journalism.

Also Read: Media Dissertation Topics

Topic 20: How PR programs have affected the government plans and decisions around the world

Research Aim: The research will analyse and evaluate how public relations programs run by state heads or governments have affected their decisions and plans. The researcher can take the example of successful and unsuccessful PR campaigns and their impact, respectively.

Topic 21: How technology has changed the strategies of public relations

Research Aim: The research will evaluate and figure out the changes that occurred to public relations strategies due to the technology. The researcher can evaluate the impact of different technologies to understand the impact.

Topic 22: Whistleblowers and public relations

Research Aim:  Whistleblowers are individuals responsible for reporting any wrongdoings that may cause a threat to society to those in authority to rectify them. The whistleblowers thus play an important role in helping public leaders in improving public relations. The aim of the research would be to find out the wide-ranging benefits of whistleblowers for making effective public relations plans.

Topic 23: Trends in advertising and public relations to look forward to

Research Aim: The aim of the research is to find out the trends in advertising and public relations today and in the future. The research will also find the potential of each trend to evaluate how long it is expected to remain relevant in their respective fields.

Topic 24: Importance of strategic communication in PR

Research Aim: Communication is the key tool of PR. The research will find the definition of strategic communication. It will also identify and explore the importance of strategic communication in PR and the ways to improve it.

Topic 25: Tourism and public relations

Research Aim:  The aim of the research is to identify the importance of public relations for tourism sectors for enhancing tourism. Tourism is not something about the tourists and destination, but it is a major government sector that can help economic growth if focused on it . It will analyse and evaluate the key elements essential for fostering tourism that is possible with public relations.

List of New & Trending Dissertation Topics on Public Relations

• A Case Study Analysis on the Role of Public Relations in Crisis Management
• The Influence of Social Media on Public Relations Strategies.
• Corporate Social Responsibility and Its Impact on Public Relations Practices.
• The Use of Influencers in Contemporary Public Relations Campaigns.
• Challenges and Solutions of Public Relations Ethics in the Digital Age
• The Effectiveness of Storytelling in Public Relations Campaigns.
• Campaign Strategies in Public Relations and Political Communication.
• Stakeholder Engagement Strategies in Public Relations
• The Role of Emotional Appeal in Public Relations Messaging.
• The Impact of Culture on International Public Relations Campaigns.
• The Role of Public Relations in Influencing Public Policy.
• Social Justice and Advocacy Campaigns in Public Relations.
• Employee Engagement in Internal Public Relations Communications.
• The Influence of Visual Communication in Public Relations.
• Globalisation and Localisation in Public Relations Campaigns.
• The Role of Public Relations in Building Trust in Financial Institutions.
• The Role of Emotion in Public Relations Crisis Communication.
• Public Relations Strategies for Startups and Small Businesses.
• The Influence of Generation Z on Public Relations Practices.

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118 Public Relations Topics

If you are writing a paper on public relations, you will need to explore the dynamic world of communication, reputation management, and strategic messaging. On this page, we’ve gathered an outstanding compilation of public relations topics that you can use for an essay, research paper, or project. With the help of our PR topics, you could reveal how public relations shape the perception of organizations in the public eye.

🏆 Best Public Relations Essay Topics

• 📰 Interesting Public Relation Topics

🎓 Catchy PR Topics

💡 simple public relations research topics, ❓ questions for a public relations research.

• Public Relations Theories and Models
• Public Relations in the Hair and Beauty Sector
• Lululemon Athletica Company’s Public Relations
• Coca-Cola Light: Public Relations and Marketing
• Public Relations, Marketing, and Advertising
• Role of Women in Public Relations
• Alibaba Group’s Public Relations and Responsibility

📰 10 Interesting Public Relation Topics

• Role of Public Relations Staff in a Sports Organization This paper highlights this very function and role of a PR staff in managing a crisis in a sports organization through his skills in effective communication and modern media management.
• Effective Public Relations in the Fashion Industry The influence of public relations on other aspects of marketing, as well as on the perception and attitude of potential buyers to the promoted product.
• What Is Public Relations? As a PR professional, I expect to play an active role in monitoring public opinion over specific issues that affect the organization or client that I represent.
• Public Relations: Preparing for a Job Preparing for a job in public relations requires developing and mastering skills related to public relations. In particular, soft skills present one of the top requirements.
• ABC Company’s Public Relations: Strategic Plan The strategic public relations plan seeks to help ABC Company to develop a close relationship with various strategic stakeholders.
• The Art of Persuasion and Public Relations The art of persuasion appears almost in the fields related to human interactions, such as advertising, TV, the Internet, and mass media.
• Public Relations Campaign A public relations campaign’s objectives, target audience, organization’s goals, and required communication medium must all be defined in a complete Media Plan.
• Measuring Public Relations and Advertising Efforts Advertising programs should be measured primarily by the organization’s internal experts. It is because “advertising is one of the main ways companies generate business”.
• Optus Company: Organizational Public Relations Problem This report presents an analysis of the organizational PR problem of the company “Optus” based on media articles that followed particular “crisis” situations providing recommendations on managing those issues.
• Race and Gender in Public Relations The project evaluates the role of gender and race diversity in the field of public relations by exploring the experience of women and black people in building their careers.
• Corporate Communications and Public Relations Corporate communications involve both internal and external information that the company’s management addresses to its employees, target audiences, and partners.
• Cyber and Public Relations in an Organization The paper states that public relations professionals are essential to an organization. Modern technology has introduced digital corporate PR.
• Emerging Technologies in Public Relations The work reveals that PR experts are presently utilizing emerging technologies to complete their research works successfully and maximize productivity.
• Public Relations and Photography Public relations are usually related to broadcasting, publicizing, photography, and promoting. The experts require time and talent to advance relations with mass media.
• Alcohol and Drug Foundation’s Public Relations The campaign conducted by Alcohol and Drug Foundation is a vivid example of how the theories and practices of PR can help alter people’s behavior.
• Public Relations in Organizations: Article Response Communication affects all aspects of an organization including management, public relations, marketing and political communication, technical communication.
• Sea Shepherd: Public Relations Proposal The proposal suggests the alternatives the Sea Shepherd organization can adopt in responding to future accusations or when effectively wants to communicate to its publics.
• Larry Summers’s Public Relations Advisor: Case Study This paper will analyze and discuss the final decision on whether to fire or hire Summers, which rests with the Harvard Board.
• What Is the Role of Rhetoric in Public Relations Practice? In public relations, rhetoric helps PR managers and administrators to appeal to the emotions of the target audience and their internal feelings.
• Commercial Law: Sprod v Public Relations Oriented Security In Sprod v Public Relations Oriented Security, the plaintiff was found lying in a pool of blood at the northern side of the Great Western Highway at St Marys.
• DM Public Relations’ Business Proposal to Agency-net DM Public Relations will assist Agency-net in emphasizing the Strategic Thinking Process. This is not the same as strategic planning.
• Race and Gender in Public Relations Field This capstone paper examines the impact of race and gender diversity on building careers in the sphere of public relations.
• Healthcare Marketing and Public Relations This paper discusses the marketing strategy of health care, including dealing with the negative reviews and managing long-term mutually beneficial relations.
• The 2008 Beijing Olympics: Public Relations Issues Advertisement China did during and at the close of the Olympics was a life-changing that was able to convince the entire world that things were not as earlier thought.
• Chess Girls DC Organization’s Public Relations The key challenge encountered by Chess Girls DC is the lack of constant funding that creates a shortage of coaches and equipment for appropriate training.
• Hospital’s Image Recovery and Public Relations In the long-term perspective, it will be significant to concentrate on the employees’ performance and the conditions to recreate the image of the hospital.
• The Public Relations Practices of Tesla Motors
• Public Relations and Other Corporate Functions
• The Public Relations Industry
• Science, Technology, and Public Relations
• Public Relations Ethics Code Ethical
• Southeast Asia Tourism and Public Relations Problems
• New Media and Public Relations Practice
• Health Care Public Relations
• Public Relations Professionals Are Strategic Communicators
• Difference Between Marketing and Public Relations
• Hypothetical Public Relations Campaign
• Education and Public Relations Within the United States
• Big Business Affects Public Relations Ethics
• Global Public Relations and Multicultural World
• The Public Relations Firm of the Lake Anna Nuclear Power Plant
• Grunig and Hunt’s Four Models of Public Relations
• DIX and Eaton Public Relations Firm
• Toyota Solara Public Relations Plan
• Relationship Between Politics and Public Relations
• The Burson-marsteller Public Relations Scandal
• Public Relations and Relationship Marketing
• The Subjectivity and Objectivity of Public Relations
• Crisis Management and Public Relations Strategies
• Public Relations and University Entrepreneurship
• The Role and Importance of Public Relations at Non-Governmental Organizations
• Global Public Relations Trends
• The Many Different Functions in the Field of Public Relations
• Marketing, Advertising, and Public Relations
• Advertising and Public Relations in America
• Effective Internal Public Relations
• The Role and Importance of Public Relations in the University Environment
• Journalism, Advertising, and Public Relations
• The Relationship Between Public Relations Professionals and Journalism
• The Differences Between Public Relations and Marketing
• Understanding the Activities, Methods, and Importance of Public Relations
• The Role and Importance of Public Relations in a Company
• Successful and Unsuccessful Spin Doctoring Case in Public Relations
• Toyota’s Accelerator and Public Relations Crisis
• Propaganda and the Public Relations Industry
• Internal Public Relations Action Plan
• Public Relations Between Healthcare Organization Crisis
• Advertising and Public Relations in the United States
• Public Relations and the European Constitution for Greece
• Historical and Contemporary Figures in Public Relations
• Public Relations and Professionalism
• Internal Public Relations Action Plan at Burt’s Bees Inc.
• Effective Public Relations for Your Business World
• Social Media and Public Relations
• Science and Public Relations
• Public Relations Contemporary Approaches
• Connection Between Public Relations and Public Option
• International and Intercultural Public Relations
• The Demand for Public Relations Specialists
• Public Relations Campaign for New York Animal Rescue Shelter
• The Societal and Organizational Functions of Public Relations
• Public Relations and Organizational Listening
• Skills Needed for the Public Relations Profession
• Transmedia Marketing and Re-invention of Public Relations
• The Public Relations Practitioner as Cultural Intermediary
• Media and Public Relations Campaigns
• Why Public Relations Professionals Should Use Facebook?
• What Are the Common Tools of Public Relations?
• What Models of Public Relations and Communication Are There?
• What Are Postmodern Values in Public Relations?
• What Guidelines for Measuring Relationships in Public Relations Are There?
• What Are the Definition, Dimensions, and Domain of Public Relations?
• What Is the Relationship Between Culture and Public Relations?
• How Do Diversity Issues Influence Public Relations?
• Is Using Social Media “Good” for the Public Relations Profession?
• How Did the Evolution of the Manager Role in Public Relations Practice Go?
• What Does Excellence Theory in Public Relations Mean?
• What Is the Organization of the Public Relations Function?
• What Are Perceptions of Public Relations Education?
• What Are Critical Perspectives on Public Relations?
• How Feminist Values Are Changing Public Relations?
• What Are the Differences Between Public Relations and Corporate Social Responsibility?
• What Is the Effect of Worldviews on Public Relations Theory and Practice?
• What Is the Paradigm Struggle in Public Relations?
• What Is the Role of Theory in Public Relations?
• How Public Relations Practitioners Actually Are Using Social Media?
• What Are the Ethical Obligations of Public Relations?
• What Is the Key to Successful Public Relations and Corporate Communication?
• What Cultural Values Influence American Public Relations Practitioners?
• Why Civil Society Is Considered as a Rhetorical Public Relations Process?
• What the Public Thinks About Public Relations?

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These essay examples and topics on Public Relations were carefully selected by the StudyCorgi editorial team. They meet our highest standards in terms of grammar, punctuation, style, and fact accuracy. Please ensure you properly reference the materials if you’re using them to write your assignment.

This essay topic collection was updated on January 3, 2024 .

Developing public relations as a foundation for public trust: a systematic literature review and bibliometric analysis

• Review Paper
• Published: 19 February 2024
• Volume 4 , article number  59 , ( 2024 )

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• Dani Fadillah   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-4387-4501 1 &
• Zhou Huiquan 2  

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This study aimed to analyze the thematic structure and trends in scientific publications discussing the relationship between public relations development and public-trust and provide a roadmap for future research investigating this topic. This study used systematic literature review (SLR) and bibliometric analysis (BA) to describe public-trust-based public relations development and reveal its bibliometric profile. The data were obtained from the 2013–2022 Scopus database by identifying the research on public relations and public-trust, so the keywords used are (“public relations development” or “public relations”) and (“public-trust” or “public trust”). The results show that the publication examining the public relations and public-trust leads to stable total publication. Countries contributing to this topic are the United Kingdom, United States, Australia, Netherlands, and Canada. Meanwhile, the universities mostly credited with high publications on this topic are University of Oxford, Kong’s College London, The University of Sydney, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, University of Michigan. This study discovers that most of the articles about public relations and public-trust discuss public health, organization and management, interpersonal communication, and perception. The results indicated that the structure and trends in thematic academic studies provide a roadmap for future studies investigating public relations development and public-trust. In this context, communication researchers should interconnect their scientific field with psychology, specifically public-trust. Therefore, the development of a public-trust-based public relations can run well. This article attempted to gain insights into how research on public relations and public-trust has progressed using the systematic literature review and bibliometric analysis.

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Fadillah, D., Huiquan, Z. Developing public relations as a foundation for public trust: a systematic literature review and bibliometric analysis. SN Soc Sci 4 , 59 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s43545-023-00813-5

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Updated: Public relations dissertation topics

Its dissertation season for MA media and public relations university students. Here are more than 40 potential areas of study.

For the last four years I’ve been a Visiting Professor at Newcastle University, supporting the university and students through teaching and mentoring.

An MA dissertation is a 12,000-word document in which you make a reasonable argument, answering a research question, problem or hypothesis, based on evidence. That evidence is collected and the document written in a few short months.

A dissertation must be made of good, university-style writing, well-organised, consistently cited and formatted, and 12,000 words in length.

I'm frequently asked by public relations students at Newcastle and elsewhere for advice on choosing a dissertation topic.

Professor Benno Signitzer at the University of Salzburg wrote a chapter on this topic in Public Relations Research: An International Perspective . It’s worth seeking out. Thanks to Professor Dejan Verčič from the University of Ljubljana for the reference.

My answer is always to follow a passion and ideally use it as an opportunity to set yourself up for your career. The ideal is a topic aligned to a developing area of practice.

“I'd say to make it as specific to your dream career as possible. Even if career visions change in the future, you'll enjoy researching and writing it at the time and therefore won't get bored and find more motivation,” said Livi Wilkes, Digital Public Relations Consultant, Aira.

Avoid populist topics and go deep. The best dissertations are original and niche. They make a genuine contribution to the professional body of knowledge in public relations.

Your research question needs to be one that can be answered in a few short months. It needs to be simple and focused.

A good research question describes clearly exactly what you want to find out. It is self-contained, straightforward and logical. It should be modest, measuring only one or two variables with respect to your object of study.

“Explore a very small, easily defined area and use rigorous academic research methods to establish new knowledge or explore a topic from a new perspective,” said Liz Bridgen, Principal Lecturer, Department of Media Arts and Communication, Sheffield Hallam University.  

“What’s your elevator pitch? I want to understand the application of your research in practice – in three minutes or less,” said Ramona Slusarczyk, Lecturer in PR and Corporate Communications, Newcastle University.

In the past two years I’ve asked my network on Facebook for suggestions for areas of study. I’ve been called out by several people for short cutting an important area of the research process.

This wasn’t my intention. Instead I wanted to share issues that are challenging practitioners.

I’ve consistently said that we need to encourage better engagement between research, teaching and practice. If that’s not your view, please look away now.

Thank you to everyone who participated in the discussion. Each suggestion is a jumping off point for further investigation.

The only way is ethics

How does post truth or fake news change the way public relations operates and how does it sit alongside codes of practice? Jane Crofts

Should social media be held to the same journalistic standards as other media outlets? Lauren Oldy

How important is the truth versus storytelling. Ged Caroll

We've always believed good public relations should be open, transparent etc. But what if we're wrong? What if good public relations is actually as dishonest, ugly and brazen as you can make it? Jemima Gibbons

How should practitioners ensure that messages resonate in an era of fake news and post truth? Rob Bruce

The importance of trusted brands in a post-truth world. In other words why the claims about your cornflakes are held to a higher standard than the claims of political candidates. Nick Jones

What does transparency in public relations look like? Aly Sandhaus Saxe

Does anyone have the right to be forgotten? Claire Thompson

Data and the science of measurement

How can public relations be measured more effectively; focusing on whether public relations campaigns should be treated the same as marketing ones; using the same tools such as Salesforce and Marketo. Paul Wooding

Measuring the effectiveness of video as a means of communication in the social sphere. Dan Slee

Test measurement frameworks for Paid, Earned, Shared and Owned (PESO) communications and content. Michelle Goodall

How can data be used to improve the impact of campaigns? Is this a route to improving the perception of public relations in society? Rob Bruce

Data visualisation looking not just at economist infographics and similar but a historical review of people such as Florence Nightingale who understood the importance of conveying a story succinctly in an as easy to understand form as possible. Rob Ashwell

Does reputation have a monetary value? Ella Minty

The business of influence

Study the behavioural economics aspects of the science of influence –influencing perceptions in order to influence market behaviour – how individual minds work, as well as the collective. Steve Schuster

What does influence look like for the next generation? Becky McMichael

What’s the role of social media influencers as part of a modern public relations campaign Stephen Waddington

Reputation wars

What makes a brand invincible? How and why do some brands die due to reputational harm, while others seem to shrug off a crisis and carry on regardless? Joe Hanley

Evidence based research showing how trust in the conventional [media] has been eroded over the past decade and the impact this has on society and business. Andy West

How do bots propagate and what are potential defensive strategies? Dan Howarth

Characterising the public relations profession

Explore the lack of diversity in the public relations profession; LGBT, women at the top, disability, ethnicity and social mobility. Sarah Stimson

How do CEOs perceive public relations and what needs to be done to improve understanding of the strategic value it can add? Sarah Hall

What skills and understanding does the communications advisor to the board need to be credible? Should reputation sit above sales and marketing in the corporate hierarchy? Patrick Blewer

Why are ethnic minorities under-represented in public relations? Liz Bridgen

Why do so many women leave public relations? Liz Bridgen

Is social media helping to reduce inequalities – or is everything staying the same? Liz Bridgen

Is public relations dead? We tend to work in wider communications roles now and need knowledge and skills to survive. Michelle Atkinson

How do you build mental resilience in journalism and public relations, particularly post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) through exposure to traumatic events and materials, as well as the wider issues around the job and its impact on mental health? Bridget Aherne

Personal versus professional expectations: where does a job and public persona end and personal life begin? Ella Minty

Is the news cycle dead? Matt Muir

Does the connected economy increase the need for niche specialism? Adrian Bridgwater

Characterise the rise of online and social echo chambers and the impact they have on decision-making. Julio Romo

Media platforms

How low can production values be? We're in the social media age, with Facebook Live, YouTube live streaming as video-based platforms, and Facebook and LinkedIn and lots more as type-based platforms. So how garbled can the sound be, how fuzzy can the video be, how distorted can the speakers be, and so on? Brian Kilgore

How can global, US-run social networks effectively deal with personal attacks, death threats or even define trolling, when they have a US President that is normalising [trolling]? Jemima Gibbons

Explore emerging strategies as companies increasingly need to market to an algorithm [rather than a human being]. Rob Flaherty

Future of public relations

What is the role of paid media in public relations programmes? Ged Caroll

The impact of artificial intelligence on content creation and distribution. Explore ethics, impact on jobs, and the relationship between the quality and quantity of content and the role it plays in manipulating the human brain. Helen Keegan

Explore digital as a means of genuine business transformation, compared with when it is used as a bolt on or stick plaster. Dan Purvis

What is the likely impact of voice search and home automation devices on brand reputation? Matt Anderson

What’s the impact of artificial intelligence on skills and workflow in public relations? Stephen Waddington

What’s the impact of artificial intelligence on media and public discourse? Stephen Waddington

Public relations education

Are we teaching students the necessary skills to succeed in the industry locally, nationally, and globally? Ai Addyson-Zhang

How do leading public relations companies and agencies perceive the value of public relations education? Ai Addyson-Zhang

Public relations in practice

Explore the fundamental changes of internal communication due to internal social media. Holger Sievert

Explore the use of social media by parties in a political campaign. Paula Clare Keaveney

Explore the application of social media in hospitals as part of the patient journey. Alexander Verstappen

What role should public relations play in a hostile takeover? How can it be justified, and used as a positive promotion of the business? Ella Minty

Should public relations practitioners own or participate in the company narrative or content strategy as part of an integrated public relations approach? Ruth Jones

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Public Relations Ethics Research Paper

View sample Public Relations Ethics Research Paper. Browse other research paper examples and check the list of research paper topics for more inspiration. iResearchNet offers academic assignment help for students all over the world: writing from scratch, editing, proofreading, problem solving, from essays to dissertations, from humanities to STEM. We offer full confidentiality, safe payment, originality, and money-back guarantee. Secure your academic success with our risk-free services.

Public relations ethics has much in common with the wedding tradition in which the bride wears “something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue.” Although the “something blue” is problematic, the “something old” is ethics, the study of which dates to the dawn of philosophy. The “something new” is public relations itself. Unlike older, related professions such as advertising and journalism, public relations wasn’t recognized as a distinct discipline until the 20th century. The “something borrowed” has been the ethics codes of other professions: As public relations practitioners have struggled to find the ethical foundations of their young profession, they have looked to disciplines such as journalism and the legal profession for guidance. And—for better or worse—the union of something old, something new, and something borrowed has created a sometimes stormy marriage between public relations and ethics.

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Part of the dawn of philosophy that introduced the concept of ethics occurred in classical Athens—the Athens of Plato and Aristotle. Both of those philosophers began their intellectual explorations by defining key terms. In a discussion of public relations ethics, for example, each might ask us, “What do you mean by public relations? And what do you mean by ethics?” By public relations (defined elsewhere in this book), we generally mean the management of relationships between an entity (an organization or individual) and the publics essential to its success. By ethics, we mean the concept of identifying and acting on our core values. In fact, Aristotle defined ethics as an activity: He believed that ethics was the process of defining our most important values and ensuring that our actions reflected those values.

Public relations ethics, then, involves identifying the profession’s core values and, subsequently, acting on those values. The ordeal of how to develop and where to find those values, however, has led to continuing debate and uncertainty about the concept of public relations ethics. Traditionally, values exist at five sometimes-overlapping levels:

• International: For example, the Caux Round Table, an organization of international business leaders, has drafted a set of international business standards that rests on two values: human dignity and kyosei, a Japanese word that means cooperating for the good of all.
• Societal: For example, the Pledge of Allegiance, which many readers of this book would have recited every day in grade school, specifies values that ideally motivate U.S. citizens: liberty and justice for all.
• Professional: For example, the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) specifies six values for the profession of public relations: advocacy, honesty, expertise, independence, loyalty, and fairness.
• Organizational: For example, Levi Strauss and Company, the maker of Levi’s jeans, asks its employees to act on four values: empathy, originality, integrity, and courage.
• Personal: These are the particular values that motivate individuals. In fact, the English word ethics comes from the Greek word ethos, which means moral character.

The Search for Values: Journalism and the Law

In its search for values during the 20th century, the young profession of public relations turned to two related professions: journalism and the law. Many of the earliest practitioners of public relations had begun as journalists who, of course, communicated ideas to separate groups, so the logic of adapting journalistic values to public relations seemed obvious. Likewise, many of the earliest practitioners of public relations saw themselves as advocates, so the logic of embracing the values of the legal profession also seemed reasonable. Unfortunately, the objectivity of journalism and the advocacy of the legal profession had all the compatibility of fire and water, and those conflicting values struggled to control public relations ethics in the early decades of the profession.

Journalistic values informed Ivy Lee’s 1906 “Declaration of Principles,” in which that journalist-turned-publicrelations-practitioner (1877–1934) declared,

We aim to supply news. This is not an advertising agency. . . . Our matter is accurate. Further details on any subject treated will be supplied promptly, and any editor will be assisted most cheerfully in verifying directly any statement of fact. Upon inquiry, full information will be given to any editor concerning those on whose behalf an article is sent out. In brief, our plan is, frankly and openly, on behalf of business concerns and public institutions, to supply to the press and public of the United States prompt and accurate information concerning subjects which it is of value and interest to the public to know about. (Guth & Marsh, 2009, p. 67)

The advantage of journalistic values is credibility: If public relations could have the reputation of delivering the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, the profession and its communications functions might gain almost unrivaled respectability among targeted publics. However, the disadvantage of journalistic values is practicality: Few, if any, organizations or individuals can afford to tell the whole truth. For example, should organizations reveal legitimate trade secrets? Should individuals disclose embarrassing information that no one has a right to know? And does all the communicated information have to be balanced, like the best stories in journalism? Are public relations practitioners responsible for telling all the relevant sides of a story, even those that oppose their employer’s viewpoint? Furthermore, are public relations practitioners storytellers—or are their duties more diverse? On close examination, journalistic values don’t seem wholly appropriate for public relations ethics.

Competing with journalistic values for a key role in forming public relations ethics were the values of the legal profession, primarily advocacy. If we cast public relations practitioners as advocates for their employer/client’s viewpoint, the relevance of legal values seems logical. And just as we presented Ivy Lee as the symbol of a journalistic ethos within public relations, we do no great harm to accuracy by presenting Edward L. Bernays (1891–1995) as the symbol of a legal/advocacy ethos within the young profession. As the author of the books Propaganda and The Engineering of Consent and part of the husband-wife team that coined the term public relations, Bernays (1947) offered this definition of “the engineering of consent”:

This phrase quite simply means the use of an engineering approach—that is, action based only on thorough knowledge of the situation and on the application of scientific principles and tried practices to the task of getting people to support ideas and programs. Any person or organization depends ultimately on public approval and is therefore faced with the problem of engineering the public’s consent to a program or goal. (p. 114)

In fairness to Bernays, he also advocated reverse engineering— the process of helping an employer/client to change in order to help win consent from a recalcitrant public.

Just as lawyers are advocates for their clients, striving to engineer consent within the courtroom, public relations practitioners—in the legal/advocacy view of the profession— engineer consent within the broader court of public opinion. In fact, if public relations practitioners are advocates for their employers/clients, several passages from the Model Rules of Professional Conduct of the American Bar Association (2008) might be adopted as governing values and principles for public relations ethics:

• [A] lawyer shall abide by a client’s decisions concerning the objectives of representation and . . . shall consult with the client as to the means by which they are to be pursued. . . . (Rule 1.2)
• A lawyer shall not knowingly: (1) make a false statement of fact or law to a tribunal or fail to correct a false statement of material fact or law previously made to the tribunal by the lawyer. (Rule 3.3)

In the mid-1990s, a thought-provoking and controversial article in Public Relations Review contended that public relations had indeed adopted the values of the legal profession and thus had little obligation to help society discover large truths on particular issues. Instead, the article argued, public relations practitioners had acknowledged that they were simply one of many adversaries in the struggle for control of public opinion. Although they could not ethically lie, they could ethically present selective facts, withholding (within the limits of the law) any facts that might weaken their arguments. The responsibility for creating a fully accurate, comprehensive assessment of a situation rested with the public, which should gather information from many adversarial sources. After all, the article argued, lawyers are in an adversarial profession, and they don’t attack their own cases. The article concluded that, for public relations, advocacy was a greater value than truth.

Among public relations practitioners and scholars, however, reaction to that article showed that public relations was not entirely comfortable with the values and adversarial nature of the legal profession. Four arguments in particular seemed to challenge the importation of values from the legal profession:

• In many organizations, public relations practitioners serve as counselors on ethics and social responsibility. If, however, they have the reputation of withholding damaging facts, their credibility as counselors is at risk.
• Not all publics are external. Within the subset of public relations known as employee relations, why would employees trust the claims of a colleague who was known to ignore or downplay damaging information?
• For more than 2,000 years, teachers of persuasion theory have taught Aristotle’s belief that the persuasive value of a speaker’s good character (ethos) is more powerful than appeals to logic or emotion. If public relations practitioners damage their perceived characters by focusing only on employer/client interests and perspectives, they may sacrifice their most potent means of persuasion: their ethos.
• Finally, the importation of legal values seems to rely on the notion that the purpose of public relations is to advocate an employer/client’s viewpoint and to engineer consent. However, if we return to the definition of public relations presented at the beginning of this research paper, advocacy seems a secondary concern. Many practitioners believe that, properly understood, public relations is the profession of building relationships with particular publics that possess the needed resources. In that view of public relations, advocacy is not the goal and end of the profession; rather, advocacy is a means—one of many— that may be involved in building productive relationships.

At the end of the 20th century, then, this much could be said for public relations ethics: It was a work in progress, certainly not comfortable with the values of journalism and not entirely comfortable with the values of the legal profession. The evolving nature of public relations ethics was (and is) evident in the evolving ethics code of one of the world’s largest public relations organizations: PRSA.

The Advocacy Debate

PRSA was created in 1948 through the merger of the National Association of Public Relations Counsel and the American Council on Public Relations. The new organization adopted its first ethics code in 1950 and then—indicative of the profession’s struggle to find its ethical foundations— revised the code in 1954, 1959, 1963, 1977, 1983, 1988, and 2000. The current version of the PRSA ethics code, as noted above, specifies six core values for the profession:

• Independence

Similar values are inherent in the ethics code of the Global Alliance for Public Relations and Communication

Management. Formed in 2000 through the joint efforts of PRSA, the International Public Relations Association, and other organizations, the alliance created a global protocol for the practice of public relations that rests on five values: advocacy, honesty, integrity, expertise, and loyalty. Clearly, the concept of advocacy continues to play a significant role in the evolution of public relations ethics. The title of one of the few books devoted solely to public relations ethics is Ethics in Public Relations: Responsible Advocacy (Fitzpatrick & Bronstein, 2006).

Again, the controversy regarding the ascendance of advocacy as perhaps the dominant value in public relations ethics relates to the definition of public relations itself: Are public relations practitioners primarily advocates for their employers/clients? If so, then the value of responsible advocacy would seem to be the logical primary value of public relations ethics. However, if public relations practitioners are relationship builders, striving to build and maintain the relationships that deliver essential resources to their employers/clients, then perhaps the primacy of advocacy—at least in the one-way, legal-profession sense—should be downgraded somewhat. This debate over the definition of public relations and the role of advocacy as a core value is evident in the constructive tension between two dominant, competing visions of the nature of public relations: excellence theory and contingency theory. Though the two philosophies are not entirely mutually exclusive, excellence theory is closer to the relationshipbuilding view of public relations, while contingency theory is closer to the legal/advocacy view of public relations.

Excellence Theory

Excellence theory has grown out of an ongoing research project begun in 1985 by the Research Foundation of the International Association of Business Communicators. Led initially by Professors James E. Grunig, Larissa A. Grunig, and David M. Dozier, the project has, essentially, studied the practices of organizations known for excellent public relations and communication management— particularly as those practices relate to four different philosophies of public relations. Identified by James E. Grunig and Todd Hunt, the four philosophies, or models, of public relations are as follows:

• The press agentry model, which has only one mission, positive publicity for the employer/client
• The public information model, in which practitioners act almost as in-house journalists, distributing unbiased information about an employer/client
• The two-way asymmetrical model, which uses research to create messages that will engineer consent, winning essential publics over to the employer/client’s viewpoint
• The two-way symmetrical model, which uses research to create, maintain, and improve dialogue-based, mutually beneficial relationships with essential publics

The excellence project, as the research study came to be known, concluded that the most effective model of public relations was not the two-way asymmetrical model, with its value of one-way advocacy. Rather, the most effective model was the two-way symmetrical model, with its values of mutual understanding and two-way advocacy. In the two-way symmetrical model, practitioners not only advocate on behalf of their employer/client, they also may advocate on behalf of the public, urging their own employer/client to change in the interests of creating, preserving, or improving a relationship.

Significantly, although the excellence project determined that the two-way symmetrical model was the most effective philosophy of public relations, the project did not assert that excellent public relations and communications departments unfailingly used two-way symmetry. Instead, the project maintained that excellence often involved a “mixed-motive” model that preferred and predominantly used two-way symmetry but that occasionally also employed two-way asymmetry.

Also significant for public relations ethics is the excellence project’s conclusion that the two-way symmetrical model incorporates an idealistic social role that rests on a simple core value: the public interest and social good. Therefore, if the dominant philosophy of public relations is the two-way symmetrical model with its mixed-motive option, the fuzzy picture of public relations ethics clears up a bit: If ethics means acting on core values, then public relations ethics involves ensuring that the profession works for the public interest and social good.

As studies of two-way symmetry have continued, that particular model has accumulated a set of core values that, ideally, should motivate the actions of ethical public relations practitioners. Those values tend to fall into two overlapping categories: values that guide relationship-building activities and values that characterize good, productive relationships. In addition to mutual understanding, two-way advocacy, and public interest/social welfare, values of relationship-building activities include loyalty to the employer/client (not simply acquiescing to whatever a public wants) and openness, in the sense of being willing to listen to and seriously consider a public’s requests.

Regarding the values that characterize good relationships, the public relations scholars Linda Childers Hon and James E. Grunig have identified six core concepts:

• Control mutuality, meaning that each party believes it has some control over the quality and future of the relationship
• Satisfaction
• Exchange, in the sense that benefits are given and received by each party
• Communal feeling, in the sense that each party would act for the benefit of the other without any immediate idea of reciprocation and payback

In brief, public relations ethics within the two-way symmetrical and mixed-motive models would involve acting, as much as possible, on these public-interest and relationship values.

Contingency Theory

As the dominance of excellence theory with its inherent two-way symmetry has grown, contingency theory has become an increasingly important reaction to that influence. One difficulty with excellence theory is that some critics believe that it describes and champions only a pure, undiluted form of two-way symmetry; they overlook the mixedmotive model that, according to the excellent project, characterizes excellent public relations departments. Other critics believe that two-way symmetry means acquiescence and radical accommodation, with an employer/client’s public relation practitioners essentially taking orders from targeted publics. This mistaken belief overlooks both the mixed-motive model and two-way symmetry’s core value of loyalty to the employer/client. Though contingency theory does not lapse into these errors, it does address the concerns they represent.

Contingency theory challenges the core values of twoway symmetry by offering a more situational model; contingency theory resists the idea that there is one best way to practice public relations, even if that one way has the flexibility of the mixed-motive model. The theory asks practitioners to imagine a spectrum with accommodation at one end and advocacy at the other. Unlike two-way symmetry and the mixed-motive model, contingency theory maintains that no one spot on that continuum is perpetually the best; instead, the best position on the continuum varies from situation to situation. In fact, contingency theory has identified more than 80 separate variables that can affect which point on the accommodation-advocacy continuum seems best for a particular situation.

For public relations ethics, a crucial difference between contingency theory and excellence theory is that contingency theory places a higher value on one-way, asymmetrical advocacy, especially when that approach may benefit the employer/client. And compared with excellence theory, contingency theory seems to place greater value on loyalty to the employer/client, placing lesser—though not insignificant— emphasis on the values of public interest, social responsibility, control mutuality, and exchange. Contingency theory, therefore, offers a different set of values for public relations ethics—a set that may actually be closer to the core values of PRSA, which, again, lists its first value as advocacy. Some proponents of contingency theory argue that it is more realistic than excellence theory; after all, employers/clients may not always be eager and willing to pay their public relations departments to sometimes advocate outside, competing ideas and viewpoints.

Some critics of contingency theory maintain that— perhaps like PRSA—the theory diminishes the nature of advocacy by defining it as a one-way process, with the practitioner being an advocate only for the employer/client. The PRSA ethics code, in fact, includes the phrase responsible advocates for those we represent. Absent in this notion of advocacy, responsible or not, is a practitioner’s advocating the interests of an important external public to the leaders of his or her own employer/client. That expanded view of advocacy is more consistent with two-way symmetry and the mixed-motive model.

Another criticism of contingency theory is that it sometimes seems to mischaracterize two-way symmetry as being synonymous with uncritical accommodation of the wants and needs of key publics. Advocates of two-way symmetry note that because the model tempers the value of a public’s well-being with the value of loyalty to the employer/client, the model is not synonymous with uncritical accommodation.

As frustrating as the clash between excellence theory and contingency theory may be for those who seek a clear understanding of public relations and the ethics of that profession, the debate is healthy: It focuses on finding the best definition of a young profession as well as identifying the values that must be inherent in that profession’s ethics. Again, if ethics means identifying and acting on core values, ethical public relations practitioners must begin by defining what those values are.

Challenges to Ethical Behavior in Public Relations

The concept of public relations ethics begins with the identification of values—but the concept remains incomplete until public relations practitioners act on those values. Challenges to ethical behavior in public relations tend to emerge from seven broad areas:

• Ignorance: Some practitioners, new or otherwise, are unaware of the values and even the laws that guide the profession of public relations; perhaps they have even failed to identify their own values and are unaware of the values of their employer/client. For example, a practitioner unaware of the core value of loyalty to one’s employer/client might easily commit actions that his or her employer would view as unethical.
• Overwork: Hard work is certainly a value for many public relations practitioners. However, when a workload becomes so overwhelming that it allows no time for reflection on the connection of core values and current actions, then hard work becomes a potential cause of unintended unethical conduct.
• Legal/Ethical Confusion: Illegal conduct often is unethical because it tends to violate social values. But the converse—all legal actions are ethical—is, of course, untrue. For example, an employee of Levi Strauss and Company who did not act on that organization’s core values of empathy, originality, integrity, and courage would probably not be guilty of illegal conduct. In the eyes of the company, however, that employee probably would be guilty of unethical behavior. Legal/ethical confusion also can extend to the troubling notion that an ethical action might be illegal. The concept of “civil disobedience” involves the intentional, peaceful breaking of laws by those acting on what they believe to be higher values.
• Cross-Cultural Situations: Related to ignorance, this source of possible unethical conduct occurs when members of different cultures interact—an increasingly common occurrence in public relations. Acceptable behavior in one culture might violate important values in a different culture. For example, a non-Muslim practitioner who values sensitivity to other cultures may mean no disrespect by unthinkingly wearing shoes into a mosque, but in doing so, he or she has violated an important cultural standard.
• Short-Term Thinking: Aristotle was among the first to identify this challenge to ethical conduct when he condemned individuals who opt for immediate pleasure or relief at the expense of long-term pain. For example, a member of PRSA might violate that organization’s value of honesty by telling a lie to resolve, seemingly, a difficult, embarrassing situation. Because that action would go against a core value, it would be unethical. Furthermore, if the lie were revealed, the practitioner would have done long-term damage to his or her reputation, as well as the reputation of his or her employer/client.
• Virtual Organizations: These entities are temporary groups of, usually, far-flung associates, perhaps united only by online media, who come together to complete a project. For example, to produce a corporate annual report, a freelance public relations practitioner hired to oversee the project might commission freelance writers, editors, photographers, illustrators, and printers. The group might never meet in person, and because it is temporary, it almost surely would lack a written ethics code and any sustained discussion of core values that might unite its members. At worst, the actions of some members might seriously violate other members’ core values.
• Dilemmas: Dilemmas are problems that lack painless, win-win solutions. In ethics, dilemmas involve clashing values; they arise from situations in which no matter what course of action an individual takes, his or her actions will be inconsistent with at least one core value. Of all the challenges to ethical behavior, dilemmas can be the most painful. For example, a public relations practitioner who embraces the concept of two-way symmetry might experience an unpleasant clash of values if he or she believed that the actions of the employer/client—actions the practitioner had tried to change—were unfairly damaging to an important public. That practitioner might be torn between the values of loyalty to the employer/client and the values, as noted above, of trust, exchange, and, in a broader sense, the public good.

Dilemmas demonstrate the need for critical-thinking tools within the broad field of ethics. When core values clash, we sometimes surrender to stress and confusion, and our thinking can become muddled. Ideally, critical-thinking systems can combat that confusion by providing structure.

Critical thinking is characterized by four qualities: It is (1) goal oriented (we seek the best solution to the dilemma), (2) objective (we try to temporarily set aside our personal biases), (3) comprehensive (we draw on many opinions and sources of information), and (4) systematic (we have a specific procedure to guide our thinking). The acronym COGS—comprehensive, objective, goal oriented, and systematic—can be used to describe critical thinking.

One well-known critical-thinking tool in ethics is the Potter Box, designed by Ralph Potter, a retired professor of social ethics. In essence, the Potter Box consists of four quadrants: (1) definition, in which we establish what we know and don’t know; (2) values, in which we identify and evaluate the values inherent in the dilemma; (3) principles, in which we seek guidance from philosophers such as Aristotle and Immanuel Kant as well as from ethics codes; and (4) loyalties, in which we evaluate the involved publics and consider which ones deserve our loyalty. Using the Potter Box, public relations practitioners can help ensure that their attempt to resolve an ethics dilemma is comprehensive, objective, goal oriented, and systematic.

In 2004, PRSA began to issue Professional Standards Advisories, describing specific ethics challenges of particular concern to its members. To date, the advisories have included these challenges to ethical behavior:

• The overbilling of clients
• The creation of so-called front groups, which don’t acknowledge their true creators and financial sponsors Truthfulness in war-related activities
• Disclosure by seemingly independent commentators of any payments that might represent a conflict of interest
• Disclosure of the true sponsorship and authorship of blogs

The inclusion of full disclosure of blog sponsorship and authorship demonstrates how technological innovations can pose new ethical challenges for public relations practitioners.

Case Study: Starbucks Coffee Company

Ethics, as we know, involves identifying and acting on core values. In the difficult days that followed the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the Starbucks Coffee Company proved itself to be a positive example of an organization that strives to integrate its core values and its actions.

In the chaotic aftermath of the collapse of the World Trade Center towers, a Starbucks employee in New York City sold bottled water to a paramedic. Starbucks had intended to donate the water, but in the turmoil of that unprecedented day, a company employee made a mistake.

When word of the sale reached Orin Smith, thenpresident of Starbucks, he contacted the paramedic’s employer to apologize and return the money. Smith then contacted New York employees to reinforce the company’s decision to donate supplies to rescue workers, and Starbucks issued a news release—a key tactic of media relations—apologizing for the action and announcing its donation policy.

One beneficiary of those supplies was the Emergency Room staff at St. Vincent’s Hospital, only blocks from the rubble and smoke of the World Trade Center. Days later, Smith received a letter from a St. Vincent’s nurse that included this passage:

I wasn’t scheduled to work, but I needed to go to the ER and help. . . . Hours passed and the staff was getting tired. I told my co-worker Jay, “I would love to have a cup of Starbucks right now.” We didn’t want to leave the ER, not knowing what would come through the doors. An hour later, I noticed my co-worker Karen with a cup of Starbucks! She informed me that the Starbucks on Greenwich Avenue brought fresh coffee and water for the ER staff. Mr. Smith, I cannot tell you how much that cup of coffee meant to me. . . . I want to thank you personally for your generosity and support. (“New Yorker Shows Support,” para. 3)

“I have never been more proud of Starbucks [employees] than I am right now,” Smith responded in yet another news release, but he still had not forgotten Starbuck’s initial, unintended departure from its values. “The decision [to charge the paramedic] is not defensible and is totally inconsistent with what we stand for,” he said (“Starbucks President,” para. 1). As order gradually returned to New York and Washington, D.C., Starbucks donated $1 million to relief efforts in those cities.

Going the extra mile to ensure that it is acting on its values has become characteristic of Starbucks’s corporate behavior. When protestors rallied at Starbucks’s 2001 annual stockholders meeting, company officials offered to meet with the protestors to evaluate Starbucks’s policies on food additives, which was the issue in question. The protestors, however, were not as accommodating: They refused to meet unless Starbucks agreed in advance to their demands.

Starbucks’s values-driven behavior has helped the company earn a perennial spot on Business Ethics magazine’s annual list of “100 Best Corporate Citizens.” In the past decade, the company has won more than a dozen national and regional awards for ethical behavior. Starbucks also issues an annual corporate social responsibility report.

At the core of Starbucks’s values-driven behavior is a mission statement that includes six guiding principles. The succinct statement reads as follows:

Starbucks Mission Statement: Establish Starbucks as the premier purveyor of the finest coffee in the world while maintaining our uncompromising principles while we grow. The following six guiding principles will help us measure the appropriateness of our decisions:

Provide a great work environment and treat each others with respect and dignity.

Embrace diversity as an essential component in the way we do business.

Apply the highest standards of excellence to the purchasing, roasting, and fresh delivery of our coffee.

Develop enthusiastically satisfied customers all of the time.

Contribute positively to our communities and our environment.

Recognize that profitability is essential to our future success. ( https://www.thebalancesmb.com/starbucks-mission-statement-2891826 )

Starbucks also has an environmental mission statement that pledges “environmental leadership in all facets of our business.”

The principles in Starbucks’s mission statement virtually ensure conflict. Emphasizing profits, quality, and corporate citizenship can simultaneously stretch a company in at least three different directions, as Starbucks learned in 2000, when protestors charged that the company paid poverty-level prices to coffee growers in developing nations. A key demand of the protestors was that Starbucks purchase Fair Trade coffee beans. Fair Trade involves paying individual farmers in developing nations a living wage for their crops. Crops grown by large corporate farms cost less and can force individual farmers into poverty.

Starbucks’s response to the situation underscored the creative tensions within its mission statement and principles. Company officials acknowledged that Starbucks had earlier sought Fair Trade beans but had not located any that met Starbucks’s standards—a direct reference to the company’s mission of supplying “the finest coffee in the world.” However, the same officials promised a more rigorous search—a direct reference to the company’s principles of excellence in purchasing and building better communities. Soon after announcing the new search, Starbucks bought almost 80,000 pounds of Fair Trade beans, and it promised to purchase more if it could locate crops that met company standards. Within a year, Fair Trade coffee became part of Starbucks’s worldwide product lines.

Starbucks’s repeated willingness to evaluate whether its actions incorporate its values earns respect even from potential critics. “The company is often grudgingly considered by many social activists to be a ‘socially responsible’ company,” said one analyst (Maloy, 2001, para. 26). A college journalist offered the same idea in slightly less formal language: “Even though Starbucks exemplifies corporate ickiness, the giant coffee company [has begun] selling Fair Trade Certified Coffee” (“100% Fair Trade Coffee,” 2000, para. 1).

Case Study: Front Groups

Front groups present a continuing challenge to public relations ethics. Such organizations often have noble names and seem independent; however, they receive secret support from a silent partner that hopes to benefit from the group’s advocacy efforts. In the late 1990s, the Associated Press (AP) published evidence suggesting that international pharmaceutical giant Glaxo Wellcome had quietly supported a front group in the hope of influencing federal health care policy in the United States.

Are front groups unethical? If they violate the values of involved individuals, organizations, or professions, the answer almost certainly is yes. By embracing values such as honesty, accuracy, and the public interest, public relations organizations throughout the world have strongly suggested that front groups are inconsistent with the values of the profession. The current PRSA ethics code specifically includes “front groups” among its examples of “improper conduct” for ethical practitioners.

In 1996 and 1997, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) received almost 10,000 letters asking it not to ban a particular kind of asthma inhaler known as an MDI. Because those inhalers contained ozone-damaging chlorofluorocarbons, environmental-defense organizations wanted them removed from the market. In many of the letters, opponents of the possible ban referred to information received from the Committee to Protect MDIs.

According to the AP, the Committee to Protect MDIs was a front group secretly sponsored by Glaxo Wellcome, which had fallen behind its competitors in developing environmentally friendly inhalers. The public relations consultant who oversaw the Committee to Protect MDIs told an AP reporter that she couldn’t recall how her involvement with the organization began, nor would she answer the reporter’s questions about the committee’s members and financing.

Ironically, in the early days of the MDI controversy, a pharmaceutical-industry newsletter reported that Glaxo Wellcome denied conducting any lobbying efforts to delay a ban on MDIs. The same story, however, noted the aggressive lobbying of the Committee to Protect MDIs, and the story ended with a quotation from the head of the committee— the same consultant who later would not discuss the committee’s financing and membership.

To its credit, Glaxo Wellcome answered the AP’s questions about its involvement, acknowledging that it did, indeed, finance the Committee to Protect MDIs. And many of the company’s later public relations tactics in the battle to preserve the inhalers seemed both legal and ethical: Its representatives spoke with reporters about problems with non-MDI inhalers, and the company openly financed a survey by an independent inhaler-users group.

Repercussions from the AP exposé were few. Glaxo Wellcome endured a handful of negative stories in the news media, but the Committee to Protect MDIs vanished from the headlines almost as quickly as its Web site went dark.

If the end always justifies the means (a dubious notion in ethics), then the Committee to Protect MDIs may have been a public relations success. The FDA delayed its ban on the inhalers, and Glaxo Wellcome won time to continue its development of environmentally friendly alternatives. The company later merged with another pharmaceutical giant and now regularly reports annual sales exceeding $40 billion.

The public relations practitioner who supervised the Committee to Protect MDIs went on to represent another multinational pharmaceutical company and has been frequently quoted in the news media.

Unfortunately, it’s impossible to document the damage to the public relations profession in the minds of those who may have felt deceived or perhaps betrayed by the Committee to Protect MDIs.

Public Relations Ethics: Values in Action

As a relatively young profession, public relations continues to seek the core values that are essential to any concept of ethics for the discipline. Despite the occasional frustrations inherent in the ongoing debate, many participants— practitioners as well as scholars—have come to realize a significant advantage in viewing public relations ethics as a work in progress: Passionate, sustained discussions about values and values-driven actions in public relations help keep those topics at the forefront of the profession. And voices from many viewpoints must be welcomed to the debate—feminist perspectives, postmodern perspectives, international perspectives, and more. After all, an enduring, high-profile discussion of how public relations can honor the most important values ranging from the international level to the personal level is surely good for a profession that seeks credibility and an honorable reputation.

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168 Current International Relations Research Topics For Any Level

Are you a student looking for intriguing international relations research topics? Look no further! In this blog post, we have created a list of 168 unique and thought-provoking research topics in the field of international relations that should help students get an A+ on their next paper.

Whether you’re studying political science, international affairs or related disciplines, this comprehensive list covers a wide range of fascinating subjects. From global governance to security issues, diplomacy, human rights, and more, these topics are designed to inspire your research and help you delve deeper into the complexities of international relations. So, grab your notepad and get ready to explore these captivating research ideas!

A Word On International Relations Theses

International relations is the study of interactions between nations and global actors. It examines politics, economics, security, and culture, exploring how countries cooperate, conflict and shape global dynamics. If you’re about to start working on a thesis in international relations and you are wondering what to include in your paper, here is a short explanation of each of the mandatory chapters:

Introduction: The opening section that presents the research problem, objectives, and significance of the study. Literature Review: A comprehensive review of existing scholarly works related to the research topic, providing a context for the study. Methodology: Describes the research design, data collection methods, and analytical techniques used to address the research questions or hypotheses. Findings: Presents the empirical results or outcomes of the research, often supported by data, analysis, and interpretation. Discussion: Analyzes and interprets the findings in relation to the research objectives, drawing connections to existing literature and providing insights. Conclusion: Summarizes the main findings, highlights the contributions to the field, and suggests avenues for future research. References: Lists all the sources cited in the thesis following a specific citation style (e.g., APA, MLA).

Now, it’s time to deliver on our promise and give you the list of international relations research paper topics. Choose the one you like the most:

Easy International Relations Research Topics

Explore our list of easy international relations research topics that will help you understand global politics and analyze the dynamics of international relations with ease

• The impact of globalization on state sovereignty and international relations
• Analyzing the role of non-state actors in global governance structures
• The influence of soft power in shaping international relations and diplomacy
• Exploring the relationship between human rights and international relations
• Examining the dynamics of economic interdependence in international relations
• The role of international organizations in promoting peace and security
• Assessing the impact of climate change on international relations and cooperation
• Analyzing the role of regional integration in shaping global politics
• The implications of cyber warfare for international relations and national security
• Examining the challenges and opportunities of humanitarian intervention in international relations
• Analyzing the role of ideology in shaping state behavior in international relations
• Exploring the impact of migration and refugee crises on international relations
• Assessing the role of international law in resolving conflicts and promoting peace
• Investigating the role of intelligence agencies in shaping international relations

International Relations Thesis Topics

Our wide range of international relations thesis topics will guide you towards developing a strong research question, conducting in-depth analysis, and contributing to the field with your original research:

• Power dynamics and the balance of power in international relations
• Exploring the role of diplomacy in conflict resolution and peacebuilding
• The impact of nuclear proliferation on international security and non-proliferation regimes
• Analyzing the role of international institutions in managing global crises
• The influence of nationalism on interstate relations and regional cooperation
• Examining the role of international norms and human rights in shaping foreign policy
• Assessing the impact of economic globalization on state sovereignty in international relations
• The role of social media in shaping public opinion and international relations
• Exploring the concept of hegemony and its implications for international relations
• The role of gender in international relations and its impact on policy-making
• Analyzing the role of intelligence agencies in shaping international relations
• The implications of emerging technologies on international security and arms control
• Examining the role of media and propaganda in international conflicts and public opinion
• The impact of regional integration on state behavior and international cooperation

Advanced International Relations Topics For Research

Dive into complex issues, explore cutting-edge theories, and unravel the intricate dynamics of global affairs with our advanced international relations topics for research:

• China’s global rise and its power dynamics
• Non-traditional security threats in international relations
• AI and warfare: Implications for international security
• Climate change, conflict, and forced migration in international relations
• Religion and politics in international relations
• Populism’s impact on global governance and international relations
• Social movements and civil society in shaping international relations
• Pandemics and international cooperation: Implications for global governance
• Cultural diplomacy and soft power in international relations
• Information warfare and disinformation in international relations
• Regional powers shaping global security dynamics
• Responsibility to protect and humanitarian interventions in international relations
• Resource scarcity and environmental degradation in international relations
• Migration and refugee crises’ impact on global stability

International Relations Research Questions

Our carefully curated list of international relations research questions will inspire critical thinking and promote meaningful discussions:

• How does power transition theory explain shifts in global power dynamics?
• What are the implications of the rise of non-state actors on traditional state-centric international relations theories?
• How do identity politics and nationalism shape interstate conflicts?
• What are the factors influencing state compliance with international human rights norms?
• How does globalization impact state sovereignty?
• What are the challenges of multilateralism in addressing global issues?
• How does public opinion influence state behavior in international relations?
• What are the causes and consequences of failed states in international relations?
• How does the distribution of power in international institutions affect their legitimacy?
• What are the implications of emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence, on international security?
• How do regional conflicts and security dilemmas impact regional integration efforts?
• What are the root causes of terrorism?
• How does economic interdependence shape interstate relations and global governance structures?
• What are the challenges of global environmental governance in addressing climate change?

International Relations Paper Topics

Choose one of our international relations paper topics that resonate with your interests and embark on an enriching research journey:

• The role of ideology in shaping state behavior in international relations
• Analyzing the impact of economic sanctions on diplomatic relations between countries
• The role of media and propaganda in influencing public opinion in international conflicts
• Exploring the relationship between globalization and cultural identity in international relations
• The implications of cybersecurity threats on national security and international relations
• Assessing the role of intelligence agencies in gathering and analyzing international intelligence
• Analyzing the impact of regional organizations on regional conflicts and cooperation in international relations
• The influence of international trade agreements on global economic and political relations
• Exploring the dynamics of nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation in international relations
• The role of international law in resolving territorial disputes and promoting peace
• Non-state actors in international relations: Influence and challenges
• Conflict resolution mechanisms: Negotiation, mediation, and peacebuilding approaches
• Diplomatic immunity: Balancing immunity with accountability in international relations
• The impact of global pandemics on international cooperation and security

Engaging Topic Ideas About International Relations

Are you seeking engaging and captivating topic ideas for your international relations research? Choose one of these engaging topic ideas about international relations:

• Global governance and international organizations in addressing global challenges.
• Nationalism’s impact on international relations and global cooperation.
• Soft power in shaping international perceptions and relations.
• Regional conflicts’ implications for global stability and security.
• Cyber warfare: Assessing evolving cyber threats in international relations.
• Media’s role in international relations: Influence, propaganda, and disinformation.
• Economic interdependence: Opportunities and risks in global relations.
• Diplomacy in the digital age: Challenges of virtual diplomacy.
• Global migration and refugee crises: Humanitarian and political dimensions.
• Human rights in international relations: Promoting universal rights.
• Terrorism’s impact on global security and counterterrorism efforts.
• Environmental diplomacy: Addressing global environmental challenges.
• Religion’s role in international relations.
• Regional power dynamics: Influence of major powers in different regions

Interesting International Relations Research Paper Topics

Uncover fascinating research paper topics in international relations that will captivate your readers and showcase your analytical skills. Use one of these interesting international relations research paper topics:

• Populism’s rise and its impact on international relations and global governance
• Climate change’s geopolitical implications: Conflicts, migrations, and resource competition
• Hybrid warfare: Analyzing blurred lines between conventional and unconventional threats
• Technology’s impact on diplomacy and the future of diplomatic practices
• Nuclear energy diplomacy: Balancing peaceful uses and proliferation concerns
• Soft power and cultural industries’ influence in international relations
• Politics of humanitarian aid: Challenges and ethical considerations
• Media framing’s impact on public opinion in international conflicts
• International cooperation in space exploration and its geopolitical implications
• Diaspora communities’ role in shaping international relations and global politics
• Migration policies and human rights: Balancing border control and human dignity
• Global health governance: Cooperation, challenges, and pandemic responses
• Environmental peacebuilding: Addressing conflicts over natural resources and degradation
• Economic sanctions: Effectiveness and ethical implications in international relations

Political Science Dissertation Topics

Our list of political science dissertation topics will provide you with a solid foundation for developing a unique research proposal and making a significant contribution to the field:

• The role of political ideologies in foreign policy and international relations.
• National security strategies and state behavior in international relations.
• Global governance and collective decision-making challenges in international institutions.
• Public opinion’s influence on foreign policy and international relations.
• Identity politics and intergroup relations in international contexts.
• Humanitarian interventions and the responsibility to protect.
• Geopolitics and resource conflicts: Strategic importance of natural resources.
• International law’s role in shaping state behavior and resolving conflicts.
• Comparative political systems in international relations.
• Political leadership’s impact on diplomatic relations and cooperation.
• International development assistance: Aid effectiveness and challenges.
• Non-state actors in global politics: Influence, networks, power dynamics.
• Intelligence agencies in international intelligence gathering and analysis.
• Political parties and foreign policy shaping

Current International Relations Topics For Research Paper

Stay up to date with the latest developments in global politics by exploring our selection of current international relations topics for research paper writing :

• Emerging technologies’ impact on global security and power dynamics.
• Transnational threats: Terrorism, crime, and cyber challenges in focus.
• Regional integration in globalization: Achievements, limitations, and prospects.
• Trade wars: Implications for global economy and cooperation.
• Disinformation and fake news: Influence on international politics and public opinion.
• Climate change negotiations: Progress and challenges in combating global warming
• Cybersecurity and emerging threats in international relations.
• Regional power dynamics in the Middle East: Implications for global security
• Global responses to the COVID-19 pandemic: Cooperation and challenges
• Climate change mitigation and adaptation in international policy
• Rising nationalism and its impact on international cooperation
• Humanitarian crisis in Yemen: International responses and challenges
• Technology and the future of warfare: Implications for global security
• The Belt and Road Initiative: Assessing its impact on international relations

Awesome Research Topics For International Relations

Our awesome research topics for international relations allow you to explore diverse areas of global politics and contribute to the field with your exceptional research:

• NGOs’ role in shaping international policies and agendas
• Humanitarian interventions and the responsibility to protect: Effectiveness and ethics
• Cybersecurity challenges in international relations: Risks and responses
• Global migration governance: Policies and implications
• Globalization vs national sovereignty: Impacts on state behavior
• China’s Belt and Road Initiative: Geopolitical influence and challenges
• Nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation: Effectiveness of treaties
• Gender in international relations: Impact of norms and policies
• Post-colonial perspectives in international relations: Power dynamics and legacies
• Climate justice and international cooperation: Addressing climate change
• Regional organizations in global governance and international relations
• Politics of humanitarian intervention: Strategies and outcomes
• Political economy of international trade: Impact of policies and agreements
• Populism’s impact on democracy and international relations

Controversial International Relations Topics

Delve into the realm of controversy and discourse with our thought-provoking controversial international relations topics:

• Drones in targeted killings: Legal and ethical implications
• Nuclear energy and non-proliferation: Benefits and risks
• Intervention in state sovereignty: Legitimacy and consequences
• Ethics of economic sanctions: Effectiveness and impact on civilians
• Cyber warfare and international norms: Regulating cyber conflicts
• Climate change’s impact on national security and conflicts
• Intelligence agencies in covert operations and international relations
• Politics of humanitarian aid: Motivations and challenges
• Ethics of military intervention: Justifications and consequences
• Politics of regime change: Motivations and implications
• Media bias’s impact on international perceptions and diplomacy
• Private military companies: Challenges and accountability
• Politics of disarmament and arms control: Progress and challenges
• Corporate interests’ influence on foreign policy and relations

Best International Relations Topics For 2023

Stay ahead of the curve with our selection of the best international relations topics for 2023. These carefully curated topics reflect the current trends, emerging challenges and pressing issues:

• COVID-19 pandemic’s implications on global politics and international relations
• Rise of populism and its impact on democracy and international cooperation
• Cybersecurity challenges in a hyper-connected world: Risks and responses
• Future of international cooperation in addressing global challenges and conflicts
• Climate change and security: Implications for international relations and stability
• Evolving role of regional powers in shaping global politics and relations
• Technological advancements’ impact on state power and international relations
• Global governance reform: Restructuring international institutions
• Social media’s role in shaping international perceptions and political movements
• Challenges and prospects of nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation
• Intersection of artificial intelligence and international relations
• Impact of trade wars on global economic relations and cooperation
• Geopolitical tensions in the Arctic: Resource competition and influence
• Future of multilateralism: Relevance and effectiveness in a changing world

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We have also prepared a list of best topics on the following disciplines:

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How do I choose a research topic in international relations?

Consider your interests, current events, and gaps in existing literature to identify an area of focus. Brainstorm potential topics and ensure they align with your research objectives.

What makes a strong international relations research paper?

A strong research paper includes a well-defined research question, solid theoretical framework, rigorous analysis, credible sources, and logical structure. It should also contribute to the existing body of knowledge.

How can I narrow down my international relations research topic?

Consider specific regions, actors, theories, or policy areas within international relations. Narrowing down your topic will allow for a more focused and manageable research paper.

Can I use case studies in my international relations research paper?

Yes, case studies can be valuable in providing empirical evidence and in-depth analysis. They help illustrate theoretical concepts and offer real-world examples to support your arguments.

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The Political Economy of Industrial Policy

We examine the ways in which political realities shape industrial policy through the lens of modern political economy. We consider two broad “governance constraints”: i) the political forces that shape how industrial policy is chosen and ii) the ways in which state capacity affects implementation. The framework of modern political economy suggests that government failure is not a necessary feature of industrial policy; rather, it is more likely to emerge when countries pursue industrial policies beyond their governance capacity constraints. As such, our political economy of industrial policy is not fatalist. Instead, it enables policymakers to constructively confront challenges.

We thank Bentley Allan, Heather Boushey, Cristina Caffarra, George Dibb, Claudio Ferraz, Mark Lane, Weijia Li, Jonas Meckling, Jonas Nahm, Dani Rodrik, Todd Tucker, and Eric Verhoogen for helpful comments and conversations. We thank Lottie Field, Mikhael Gaster, Saumya Joshi, Nancy Sun, and Esha Vaze for their excellent research assistance and input. We are indebted to Gian Aswin Chansrichawla for guiding our focus to Thailand as a candidate case study, and for helpful conversations and references about the Thai case. Funding from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation is gratefully acknowledged. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research.

MARC RIS BibTeΧ

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In international relations, it’s the message, not the medium

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Over 180 world leaders maintain social media accounts, and some of them issue policy warnings to rivals and the public on these platforms rather than relying on traditional government statements. How seriously do people take such social media postings?

A new study suggests the general public and policymakers alike take leaders’ social media posts just as seriously as they take formal government statements. The research, by MIT political scientists, deploys novel surveys of both the public and experienced foreign policy specialists.

“What we find, which is really surprising, across both expert audiences and public audiences, is that tweets are not necessarily seen as this form of cheap talk,” says Erik Lin-Greenberg, an MIT faculty member and co-author of a new paper detailing the results. “They’re viewed as the same type of signal as that being offered through more formal and traditional communications.”

The findings suggest that people have become so fully acclimatized to social media that they regard the medium as a vehicle for messages that have just as much credibility as those generated through the old-school method, in which official statements are released in formal language on official government documents.

“One clue that sheds some light on our unexpected findings is that a slight majority of our survey respondents who read a tweet identified what they read as a White House press release,” says Benjamin Norwood Harris, an MIT doctoral candidate and co-author of the paper. “Respondents really seemed to believe that tweets were just another way presidents communicate in their official capacity.”

The paper, “ Cheap Tweets?: Crisis Signaling in the Age of Twitter ,” appears in the June issue of International Studies Quarterly . Greenberg is the Leo Marx Career Development Assistant Professor of the History and Culture of Science and Technology at MIT; Harris is a PhD candidate in MIT’s Department of Political Science who specializes in security studies and international relations.

The study fits into a larger body of political science research in the area of “crisis signaling” — the way words and actions in international relations are interpreted, which is often critical to diplomacy. However, when it comes to the use of social media, “There’s been very little research that looks at the credibility of public signals,” Lin-Greenberg notes.

The research consisted of a multilayered set of surveys, conducted in 2021. Using the survey platform Lucid, the scholars surveyed 977 members of the general public about a hypothetical confrontation between the U.S. and Iran, using facsimiles of messages on Twitter (now known as X) and formal White House statements that might have been sent by U.S. President Joe Biden during such a scenario. Separately, the scholars also recruited foreign policy experts from the U.S., India, and Singapore, which all have active English-language think tank spheres, to take the same survey.

Asked to rate the credibility of tweets and official statements on a five-point scale, the public rated official press releases at 3.30 and tweets at 3.22. The policy experts gave a 3.10 rating to the official statement, and a 3.11 rating to the tweets.

“No matter how we cut the data, we just don’t see much difference in how respondents rated Tweets versus official statements,” Harris says. “Even when we vary the formality of the tweet language — including things like all caps and lots of exclamation points — we don’t find an effect.”

A follow-up layer of the survey then asked respondents about a related hypothetical conflict between the U.S. and Iran in 2026, with facsimile tweets and White House statements attributed to both Biden and former president Donald Trump, given that either could be president then. The aim was to see if different leaders influenced perceptions of the two forms of statements.

But in this instance, the public and policy experts regarded tweets and official statements virtually equally seriously. Trump’s statements were given slightly more credibility overall, but with a strong partisan divide: Liberals took Biden’s statements to have more credibility, and conservatives took Trump’s statements to have more credibility.

Overall, the study suggests that many people are simply unaffected by the medium in which a global leader might choose to issue a warning to leaders of other nations. In the surveys, participants were given the opportunity to describe qualitatively what shaped their responses; only about 2 percent cited the medium as an issue.

As Harris notes, the survey data also indicate that slightly more than 51 percent of respondents believed a tweet constituted an officially released government statement. Additionally, about 73 percent of respondents thought tweets were generated in the same way as statements that have the official imprint of a national government.

“People who see a tweet don’t really differentiate it in their minds. They don’t think the tweet is not an official statement,” Lin-Greenberg says. “About three-quarters of the population think it’s coordinated, whether it’s a tweet or an official statement.”

In the paper, the scholars suggest there is considerable room for follow-up research in this area. Among other things, future studies might compare the effect of social media statements to other types of communication, such as speeches. Scholars might also study other social media platforms or broaden the set of countries being studied. Such research, Lin-Greenberg and Harris conclude in the paper, “will further enrich our understanding of the interactions between emerging technology and international politics.”

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• Erik Lin-Greenberg
• Department of Political Science

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• Political science
• Social media
• Technology and society
• School of Humanities Arts and Social Sciences

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