modeling (SEM). ... guidelines for improving the agency-client relationship as well as .... namely competition from agencies/people in advertising, marketing, ...
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EJM 39,1/2
Antecedents of managerial public relations: a structural model examination
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Carmen Lages ISCTE Business School-Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal, and
Received September 2003 Revised March 2004; June 2004
Luis Filipe Lages Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal Abstract Purpose – This paper identifies key forces influencing the degree of managerial public relations (MPR), i.e. the practice of public relations (PR) as a strategic tool. Design/methodology/approach – Using survey data of nearly 300 PR consultants from English firms, the authors propose a conceptual framework of MPR and test it through structural equation modeling (SEM). Findings – Findings reveal that research expenditure and importance given to qualifications are key antecedents of MPR. Surprisingly, while the direct effect of the perceived quality of PR graduates on the practice of MPR is non-significant, the indirect effect through research expenditure is highly significant and negative. Research limitations/implications – Future research is encouraged to identify key drivers of MPR by investigating clients’ perceptions on this topic. Such an approach would bring interesting guidelines for improving the agency-client relationship as well as consultancies’ performance. Research is also encouraged to investigate not only MPR antecedents, but also MPR outcomes. Practical implications – From a practitioner perspective, a better comprehension of MPR might promote the understanding of PR as a strategic tool, the understanding of the client’s problem from a strategic standpoint, the inclusion of research and evaluation in the PR process, and incursion in long-term policies. Originality/value – Following the principle of strategy-environment co-alignment, this paper shows that the practice of PR is a result of a strategic response by consultants to the interplay of internal and external forces over their consultancy firm. Keywords Public relations, Marketing communications, Linear structure equation modelling, Consultants, United Kingdom Paper type Research paper
European Journal of Marketing Vol. 39 No. 1/2, 2005 pp. 110-128 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited 0309-0566 DOI 10.1108/03090560510572043
This research has benefited from the financial support of Fundac¸a˜o para a Cieˆncia e a Tecnologia-Portugal/European Union (SFRH/BPD/3649/2000) and the support of Warwick Business School in conducting the survey. Carmen Lages also acknowledges research support from UNIDE/ISCTE. Luis Filipe Lages acknowledges a research grant from NOVA E´GIDE. We are also grateful to Lyndon Simkin, Paulo Gomes, and participants of Nova-IRW seminar, as well as EJM reviewers and reviewers of the EMAC and ANZMAC conferences for comments on earlier versions of this manuscript. The collaboration of British PR consultants was also invaluable to the completion of this project.
Introduction The contribution of public relations (PR) for marketing purposes, particularly in the context of marketing communications, has been extensively recognized (e.g. Kotler and Mindak, 1978; Kotler, 1982; Goldman, 1984; White, 1991; Henry, 1995; Kitchen, 1996). From a marketing perspective, the tendency has been to treat PR primarily as a publicity function whose main role is seen as providing tactical support for marketing campaigns (Kotler, 1982, 1986, 2000; Shimp and Delozier, 1986). This study argues that PR not only provides tactical support for marketing campaigns, but also plays a strategic role through managerial public relations (MPR). Specifically, this paper looks more closely at the managerial function of PR consultants, which has been largely ignored by previous research. This may be because the existing marketing and PR literature does not provide specific measures for the proposed conceptualization. Lages and Simkin’s (2003) study is an exception, and their proposed operationalization of MPR is employed here. While building on their work, this paper analyzes key antecedents of MPR in the context of PR consultancy exercise. Although there is some evidence suggesting that PR is used mainly as a tactical marketing support activity to generate product publicity (Moss et al., 1997) and that PR practitioners are found not to play a significant strategic role (Hogg and Doolan, 1999), research suggests the (co)existence of a tactical and strategic approach in PR practice, namely identifying two major PR practitioner roles, i.e.: (1) the manager role, which creates and manages strategic PR programs; and (2) the technician role, which writes, edits and produces publications (Dozier, 1992). Within this line, Grunig and Grunig (1992) proposed that PR practice might be conceptualized in terms of two continua: one of “craft” PR and one of “professional” PR. While practitioners of craft PR apply communication techniques to get publicity and information into communication media, practitioners of professional PR lean on a body of knowledge and techniques to use PR with a strategic purpose. Modern PR is seen as the “strategic management of communication”, aiming at developing relationships between an organization and its various internal and external publics, and not only consumers (Ledingham and Bruning, 1998). The search for balance between internal/external realities, by adapting the organization’s mission to the environment, is seen as the key proposition of PR in the management process (Grunig, 1992). The article is organized as follows: in the next section, we develop a conceptual framework that incorporates the relationships among consultancy and industry forces and MPR. We then develop a set of research hypotheses, which are summarized into an operational model. This is followed by a description of our methodology for testing the hypotheses. This model is then tested via a field survey of nearly 300 PR consultants. We conclude with a discussion of results, limitations and directions for future research.
Conceptual framework The particular theoretical perspective adopted here is the principle of strategy-environment coalignment (Venkatraman and Prescott, 1990), which suggests a “fit” between strategy and its context – whether it is the external
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environment or organizational characteristics. The principle has its roots in industrial organizations (cf. Scherer and Ross, 1990) and rests on two premises: (1) that organizations are dependent on the internal and external environments for resources (Pfeffer and Salancik, 1978); and (2) that organizations can manage this dependence by developing and maintaining strategies (Hofer and Shendel, 1978). Hence, our framework (see Figure 1) assumes that the practice of PR is a result of a strategic response by consultants to the interplay of internal and external forces over their consultancy firm. Figure 1 presents consultant’s perceptions at three broad levels: (1) consultancy; (2) industry; and (3) practitioner. The logic that underpins the model is to verify the impact of some contingent (internal and external) forces on the PR consultant’s practice of MPR. More specifically, the framework postulates that MPR is affected by consultancy internal forces (i.e. research expenditure and strategic needs from clients) and PR industry external forces (i.e. competition, quality of PR graduates, trade body contribution, and importance of qualifications). Below we present the variables that comprise each of the three broad dimensions (Figure 1). Consultant’s perceptions at the practitioner level At the practitioner level, MPR is defined as the extent to which PR practitioners engage in tasks of a strategic nature. Hence, MPR includes issues that concern activities typically carried out at the managerial level, and the more frequently the practitioner
Figure 1. A conceptual framework of key antecedents of MPR
engages in these tasks, the more he/she is practising MPR (Lages and Simkin, 2003). Tasks of a strategic nature in practising PR include frequency in setting strategic goals, setting quantifiable objectives, deciding on communication policy, assessing progress periodically, and making presentations. Consultant’s perceptions at the consultancy level At the consultancy level this study analyzes the practitioner’s perception of two variables: (1) strategic needs from clients; and (2) research expenditure. Research expenditure is the degree of expenditure on research and evaluation. Strategic needs from clients means the extent to which clients are perceived to be proactive in asking for services of a strategic nature, including asking for the PR consultancy to get involved in their strategic planning, for communication beyond PR, for evaluation of programs, and for research-based programs (Lages and Simkin, 2003). Consultant’s perceptions at the industry level Similarly to Lages and Simkin (2003), this study analyzes the practitioner’s perception of four variables at the industry level: (1) competition; (2) quality of PR graduates; (3) trade body contribution; and (4) importance of qualifications. Competition is defined as the perceived competition from agency or people from other competing disciplines which might be seen as substitutes of PR consultancy services, namely competition from agencies/people in advertising, marketing, management and sales promotion. The quality of PR graduates is the perceived degree of preparation of PR graduates to work in the PR industry, which is assessed by graduates’ strategic thinking, management skills, writing skills and overall preparation to work in the industry. Trade body contribution refers to both perceived contribution of professional associations[1] to professionalism and benefits from trade body membership. Finally, importance of qualifications is the perceived importance of formal (academic or professional) qualifications for one to practice PR. Research hypotheses We start this section by presenting the hypotheses associated with antecedents of MPR (see Figure 2). This is followed by antecedents of research expenditure, antecedents of perceived quality of PR graduates, and finally antecedents of perceived importance of qualifications. Antecedents of managerial public relations Nowadays, PR is positioned as a management discipline gaining a strategic emphasis. As with PR, the need for strategic considerations in marketing theory has also been emphasized by different authors (Anderson, 1982; Day and Wensley, 1983; Lambkin and Day, 1989; Wind and Robertson, 1983). Strategy is understood as providing a “plan
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Figure 2. An operational model of key antecedents of MPR
of attack” regarding how resources should be deployed to achieve objectives, and should therefore provide direction and implementation procedures (Wind and Robertson, 1983; Day, 1984; Morris and Pitt, 1993). Strategy is assumed to aid PR in achieving its objective of building a favorable reputation by obtaining mutual understanding between organizations and their constituencies, through the management of communication. At the practitioner level, PR implies that practitioners master technical skills while understanding why to employ them. Indeed, previous research indicates the existence of a PR manager role (Dozier, 1992; Toth et al., 1998; Hogg and Doolan, 1999; Moss and Green, 2001). Today’s institutions depend on their handling of information, as this helps them to enhance decisions by reducing uncertainty (Deshpande and Zaltman, 1982; Turner, 1991; Glazer, 1991). Although there are examples of successful marketing decisions being taken on the basis of intuition, it is frequently proposed that decisions based on marketing research information are essential for business success (Kohli and Jaworski, 1990; Narver and Slater, 1990). Considering that MPR includes two items that relate to the assessment of results (frequency of setting quantifiable objectives, and frequency of assessing progress periodically), one would expect that research expenditure would have a positive impact on the frequency of practice of MPR. Hence our first hypothesis is: H1a. A PR consultancy’s research expenditure is positively associated with the practice of MPR by PR consultants. Traditionally, PR (both in-house and consultancies) tends to recruit from other professions, such as journalism, law and business, and these entrants would subsequently be trained in PR by apprenticeship (Hatfield, 1994). Thus, the previous generation of practitioners learned more by trial and error than by formal qualification specifically in PR. Although PR graduates have been increasingly available to the industry, it seems that the industry has been reluctant to recruit PR graduates in
significant numbers. Overall, the literature suggests that PR graduates in some developed countries, such as the UK, have a poorer reputation than other graduates to work in the PR industry (Lages and Simkin, 2003). PR consultants who practice MPR are frequently engaged in managerial type tasks such as setting quantifiable objectives and setting strategic goals, and because such tasks are not included in the curricula of typical university PR degree programs, they are therefore expected to perceive the quality of PR graduates to be less adequate. This leads to the following hypothesis: H1b. Consultants’ perceptions about the quality of PR graduates are negatively associated with the practice of MPR. Practitioners who engage more frequently in MPR are expected to give more importance to formal qualifications and academic training. For managerial positions, education seems to be given more weight than experience, as shown by Panagyrakis’s (1994) study on the backgrounds of PR managers in several countries. This study confirmed that college graduation was the minimum requirement for advancing to a managerial position, hence: H1c. Consultants’ perceptions about the importance of qualifications for PR practice are positively associated with the practice of MPR.
Antecedents of research expenditure PR consultants whose clients have strategic needs are expected to spend more on research and evaluation. However, for a better understanding of PR there is a need for those clients to become literate in strategic public relations (Countrywide Porter Novelli, 1998). Moreover, PR practitioners tend to have a limited notion of research and evaluation, and a disinclination to learn about PR evaluation techniques (White, 1988). Research and evaluation seems to be used mainly as a reactive tool, i.e. to present data on which practitioners would be judged, instead of proactively improving or fine-tuning current activity (Watson, 1994). Although PR practitioners recognize that PR suffers when results might not be measured, they also fear evaluation because it might reveal unsatisfactory results. Research and evaluation are more likely to occur when clients are strategically oriented, because they invest more in PR firms’ services for strategic problem resolution and therefore seek results of their investment. Hence, we expect that: H2a. Strategic needs from clients are positively associated with research expenditure. Within the field of strategic management the “resource-based view of the firm” (Barney, 1991; Teece et al., 1997) argues that sustainable competitive advantage occurs if a firm has a resource that is valuable, rare among competitors, difficult to imitate and able to deliver clients’ products that embody that resource. From this perspective, consulting firms consider research knowledge to be a core capability for achieving competitive advantage (Pasternack and Viscio, 1998). Hence, PR practitioners who perceive higher competition in the industry are expected to spend more on research and evaluation in order to achieve competitive advantage. H2b. Perceived competition is positively associated with research expenditure.
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Nowadays, managers expect universities to provide their graduates with a set of skills to perform in the practitioner world. These expectations will be higher from firms in which research and evaluation expenditure is higher. For example, they are more likely to expect that PR students “will need to understand the intricacies of research in order to understand research specialists, to evaluate their work, and to use the information in decision making” (Stern and Tseng, 2002, p. 225). Practitioners who spend more on research tend to be more involved in strategic activities, and are therefore expected to perceive PR graduates as having poor preparation to work in the PR industry. Thus: H2c. Consultants’ perceptions about the quality of PR graduates are negatively associated with research expenditure.
Antecedents of quality of PR graduates The need for professional and academic training within the PR industry is widely acknowledged (Hatfield, 1994; Dibb et al., 1996; L’Etang and Pieczka, 1996). PR firms whose clients’ profiles have strategic needs are expected to perceive PR academic courses as not meeting all the requirements for the strategic end of the market. According to Lages’s (2001) study, respondents believe that PR degrees need improvement, especially through the enhancement of numeracy and business skills. Interviewees perceived that PR graduates were not trained to think like a businessperson. Particularly, practitioners whose clients have strategic needs are expected to perceive PR graduates as having poor preparation to work in the PR industry because they might be more demanding towards them. Thus: H3a. Strategic needs from clients are negatively associated with consultants’ perceptions about the quality of PR graduates. Firms operating in highly competitive markets tend to be more demanding because intense competition increases market uncertainty and unpredictability (Gupta et al., 1986). Moreover, in these environments market shares become more volatile (Day and Wensley, 1988). Hence, practitioners who perceive higher competition (from advertising, marketing, management and sales promotion agencies/people) will tend to impose higher standards. Consequently, they will tend to have higher expectations and will perceive PR graduates as having less adequate preparation to work in a highly competitive PR industry. This leads us to the following hypothesis: H3b. Perceived competition is negatively associated with consultants’ perceptions about the quality of PR graduates. The fact that many mechanisms of professionalization are not in place contributes to PR’s poor reputation: there are no barriers to new entrants, no certification is required, and only rarely is large capital investment necessary. PR professional associations are seen to have limited membership benefits and to make a limited contribution to the development of professional standards (Lages, 2001). Practitioners perceiving that PR associations contribute to the industry might tend to perceive that PR graduates contribute in a like manner. Those who perceive that the professional PR associations (trade bodies) contribute to professionalism might have an overall better perception
towards the PR industry, and are therefore expected to perceive PR graduates as having more adequate preparation:
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H3c. Trade body contribution to professionalism is positively associated with consultants’ perceptions about the quality of PR graduates.
117 Antecedents of importance of qualifications In their study of professionalism, sociology academics have tried to identify what it is that makes a profession as opposed to an occupation. One of the characteristics of a profession is a vocation founded in a body of knowledge (Freidson, 1986; Halliday, 1987; Abbott, 1988), which underlines the importance of qualifications. In agreement with this position, some PR scholars have argued for the central role of PR education in advancing PR to a comparable standard of established professions (Hatfield, 1994; L’Etang and Pieczka, 1996; Grunig and Grunig, 1992), although acknowledging that PR is developing its own unique body of knowledge. Practitioners who perceive higher competition are expected to perceive qualifications to be more important. Practitioners who perceive that they have competition are more likely to believe that academic training is important for PR practice and that formal academic or professional qualifications should be made compulsory. Qualifications upgrade PR to strengthen its capacity to face competition from more established fields, such as management, marketing, advertising, and sales promotion. An awareness of competition leads to the valuing of qualifications as a means of meeting the challenge of competition. Thus: H4a. Perceived competition is positively associated with consultants’ perceptions about the importance of qualifications. Some practitioners believe that experience is the most valuable requirement, and consequently might not value a trade bodys´s contribution at the education level. Indeed, in a recent study, it was concluded that some PR professional associations are not fully exploring the opportunity offered by education to raise their members’ level of “knowledge and skills to a professional level” (L’Etang, 1999, p. 284). Despite trade bodies’ attempts to impose a rigorous system of entry by qualification, there is an absence of a delineated specialized PR education on which to base specific standards. Practitioners who perceive that a trade body contributes to professionalism have an overall positive view of the industry, and consequently might perceive qualifications as being important: H4b. Trade bodies’ contribution to professionalism is positively associated with consultants’ perceptions about the importance of qualifications. Any occupation with aspirations to professionalize finds education an indispensable path to reach that goal. Education helps to define PR expertise and the scope of its activity to provide theoretical underpinning for its practice and ethics and to legitimize its process of social acceptance (L’Etang, 1999). Practitioners who perceive PR graduates as having a better preparation are naturally expected to value qualifications more:
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H4c. Consultants’ perceptions of the quality of PR graduates are positively associated with the importance of qualifications.
Method The research setting The PR consultancy world provides the context for this study. Institutions face the need for skilled staff to deal problems. Engaging in-house specialists from among staff to solve these situations, particularly emergencies, sometimes becomes unfeasible because staff training takes time and money. In these situations, organizations may decide to subcontract the expert services of professionals who help organizations solve their problems or improve their situation. Consultants in many areas are used for a variety of reasons that normally fall into three categories: (1) resources; (2) specialization and expertise; and (3) objectivity (Bryan, 1992; Sturdy, 1997). Conversely, consultants may be hired when managers simply desire to use the presumed objectivity and/or status of an outsider to legitimatize a decision (Sturdy 1997). Sample Although the PR occupation comprises both practitioners working in external consultancies and practitioners working in-house for an organization, a sample of external consultants was drawn from the UK Hollis Directory (1999) for three main reasons. First, it provided the only comprehensive database with consultancy contacts. Second, this was the most up-to-date database available at the time of the survey. Third, this study intends to contribute toward filling a literature gap by using PR consultants as the target population. Most studies tend to build on the perceptions of in-house practitioners, although external consultants are behind many organizations’ PR practice (Dibb et al., 1996; White and Blamphin, 1995). Data collection procedure Primary data were collected through preliminary interviews, a mail survey and follow-up interviews. From a sample frame of N ¼ 2; 308, 1,000 managers were selected through stratified random sampling (geographical criteria) and mailed a questionnaire survey. The sample obtained for the study, 297 valid questionnaires (equivalent to a 29.7 percent response rate), exceeds the minimum required for the overall sample and for each stratum. Non-response bias was tested by assessing the differences between the early and late respondents with regard to the means of all variables (Armstrong and Overton, 1977). Early respondents were defined as the first 75 percent of the returned questionnaires, and the last 25 percent were considered to be late respondents. These proportions approximate the actual way in which questionnaires were returned. No significant differences among the early and late respondents were found, suggesting that response bias was not a significant problem in the study.
The survey was directed toward PR practitioners of English consultancies in 1999. Respondents are experienced senior practitioners and therefore have significant knowledge about their own job and industry. Most are male (58 percent), in their forties or fifties (62 percent) and hold a degree (44 percent) or “A” levels (27 percent) as their highest qualification. The PR sample is young (73.5 percent of PR firms were created after the 1980s), and are made up of small-sized firms, mostly with fewer than six employees (65 percent) and fewer than ten clients (58 percent) and a turnover below £500,000. Agencies tend to be more business-to-business oriented (47 percent) than consumer-oriented and are more generalist (55 percent) than specialized. The majority of agencies in the sample are not internationalized. Findings Confirmatory factor analysis In order to assess the validity of the measures, the items are subjected to a confirmatory factor analysis using full-information maximum likelihood (FIML) estimation procedures in LISREL 8.3 (Jo¨reskog and So¨rbom, 1993). In this model, each item is restricted to load on its pre-specified factor, with the seven first-order factors allowed to correlate freely. The x 2 for this model is significant (x 2 ¼ 384:48, 231df, p , 0:00). Since the x 2 statistic is sensitive to sample size, we also assess additional fit indices: the comparative fit index (CFI), the incremental fit index (IFI), and the Tucker-Lewis fit index (TLI). The CFI, IFI, and TLI of this model are 0.92, 0.92, and 0.91, respectively. Since fit indices can be improved by allowing more terms to be freely estimated, we also assessed the root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA), which assesses fit and incorporates a penalty for lack of parsimony. An RMSEA of 0.05 or less indicates a close fit to the population. The RMSEA of this measurement model is 0.047. The measurement model revealed discriminant and convergent validity. Discriminant validity was evidenced by the correlation estimates between any two constructs. No correlation includes the value of 1 (Anderson and Gerbing, 1982). Convergent validity was evidenced by large and significant standardized loadings of each item on its construct (p . 0:01) (Jo¨reskog and So¨rbom, 1993). A full listing of the final constructs and their scale reliabilities can be found in the Appendix. The average internal reliability (Cronbach’s a) was 0.78[2]. Structural model estimation The conceptual framework of Figure 2 is simultaneously estimated in a structural equation model using FIML estimation procedures in LISREL 8.3. This model contains seven constructs, 24 observable indicators, measurement and latent variable errors, and inter-correlations between the latent constructs. The estimation results for the significant structural paths are shown in Table I. This model has a x 2 of 386.27 (237 df, p , 0:00), while the fit indices suggest a good fit of the model to the data (CFI ¼ 0:92, IFI ¼ 0:93, TLI ¼ 0:91, RMSEA ¼ 0:046). This reveals that the final model is good in reproducing the population covariance structure, and there is an acceptable discrepancy between the observed and predicted covariance matrices (Steiger, 1990). A final examination of the individual paths indicates that seven of the 12 predicted direct relationships are confirmed to be statistically significant. Additionally, there are two indirect and eight total significant effects.
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0.03 0.87
0.03 0.77
0.03 0.87
0.03 0.77
20.02 20.75
Notes: Values in upper rows are completely standardized estimates; values in lower rows are t-values; †p , 0:05; ††p , 0:01 (one-tailed test)/*p , 0:05; **p , 0:01 (two-tailed test)
0.15† 2.10
0.43†† 5.67
20.12†† 20.10 0.02 23.04 21.37 0.30 H1bNS
0.15† 2.10 H1c U
2 0.10 2 1.37
h3 Importance of qualifications
20.25†† 2 0.10 23.21 2 1.37 H4c NS
0.37†† 5.32
0.40†† 2 0.03 2 1.27 5.38 H4b U
0.43†† 5.67 H1a U
20.25†† 23.21 H2c U
2 0.07** 20.07** 2 2.64 22.64
0.22†† 3.27
0.23†† 2 0.01 2 1.08 3.42 H4a U
20.02 20.75
h4 Managerial public relations Direct Indirect Total
h2 Research expenditure
h1 Quality of PR graduates
0.30†† 3.78
0.30†† 3.78 H3c U
j3 Trade body contribution
20.02 20.29
2 0.03 2 1.59
0.01 0.18 H2b NS
0.13† 1.78
0.13† 1.78 H3b U
j2 Competition
2 0.01 2 1.08
2 0.01 2 1.08
20.06 20.80
2 0.03 2 1.55
20.03 20.36 H2a NS
h3 Importance of qualifications Direct Indirect Total
0.13 1.71
Table I. Effects of exogenous and prior endogenous constructs
h2 Research expenditure Direct Indirect Total
120
j1 Strategic needs from clients 0.13 1.71 H3a NS
h1 Quality of PR graduates Direct Indirect Total
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Discussion of findings Our findings reveal that the most important determinant of MPR is research expenditure, which is almost three times more important than importance given to qualifications[3]. Surprisingly, while the direct effect of the perceived quality of PR graduates on the practice of MPR is non-significant, the indirect effect through research expenditure is highly significant and negative (the total effect became non-significant). So, although perception of PR graduates’ preparation appears not to have a direct effect on the practice of MPR, consultants that practice more MPR, when spending more on research and evaluation, tend to perceive that PR graduates’ preparation is unsatisfactory. The follow-up interviews revealed that when considering the perceived quality of PR graduates to work in the PR industry, British PR graduates have a worse reputation than other graduates. A possible explanation is that practitioners who spend more on research and evaluation tend to be more involved in strategic activities, and are therefore expected to perceive PR graduates as having poor preparation to work in the PR industry. Second, there is a highly significant negative indirect impact of perceived trade body contribution on research expenditure, through perceived quality of PR graduates. Consultants who spend more on research and evaluation have a less favorable perception of trade body contribution and a less favorable perception of the quality of PR graduates. Practitioners who perceive that the British trade body contributes to professionalism and that PR graduates have good preparation are probably less demanding, less involved in strategic activities, and would be expected to spend less on research. Finally, a possible explanation for the non-significant effect of strategic needs from clients on both the quality of PR graduates and research expenditure is the fact that when clients ask a PR firm to solve strategic needs, it does not mean that the PR firm is prepared, i.e. it does not mean that the firm has the required human and financial resources to do it. This might also explain the positive relationship between quality of PR graduates and research expenditure. Limitations of the research Some limitations of the research should be considered. The first limitation is associated with the sample frame. It arises from the unavailability of a complete listing of all units of the population, which was defined by the sample frame availability. The sampling frame was the Hollis Directory, a list of names and contacts of PR consultancy managers in England, which nevertheless was the most up-to-date and comprehensive database at the date of the study. Second, this is a stratified-random judgment sample due to time and financial resource constraints. Our results became skewed towards PR consultants, which makes it difficult to generalize our findings to other important PR players. For example, PR clients (who emerged as fundamental actors), PR scholars, PR students, in-house PR practitioners and other practitioners who compete with PR firms (e.g. marketing, advertising and management consultants) are not represented in the sample. Third, the fact that the sample involves only practitioners from a single country may limit the generalizability of the results to some degree. However, countries in situations similar to that of England may also benefit from the findings. Another limitation is associated with the type of data. First, the data, and hence findings, are somewhat dated. Second, the data are not longitudinal. Hence, the survey
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methodology may have created common method variance that could have inflated construct relationships. This inflation could be particularly threatening if the respondents were aware of the conceptual framework of interest. However, they were not appraised of the specific purpose of the study, and all of the construct items were separated and mixed so that no respondent should have been able to detect which items were affecting which factors (Lages and Jap, 2003; Lages et al., 2004). Hence, the bias of common method variance was partially minimized. Furthermore, we guaranteed confidentiality to all survey participants, which also helps to reduce the possibility of bias in performance reports for self-presentation reasons (Singh, 2000). Additionally, if common method bias exists, a CFA containing all constructs should produce a single method factor (Podsakoff and Organ, 1986; Lages and Lages, 2004). The goodness-of-fit indices (CFI ¼ 0:25, IFI ¼ 0:26, TLI ¼ 0:18, RMSEA ¼ 0:156) indicate a poor fit for both models, which suggests that biasing from common method variance is unlikely.
Conclusions and implications Our work is differentiated from past research in a number of ways. First, the paper uses MPR (i.e. the practice of PR as a strategic tool) as a dependent variable. It is believed that research in PR can be enriched if it incorporates strategic considerations. Second, this research is one of the few works that considers strategic co-alignment with the internal and external context by including the role of consultancy and industry forces in the same framework. Third, previous research tends to focus on single relationships among variables while rarely considering their simultaneous effects. Our approach is expected to develop he understanding of how MPR is simultaneously affected by consultancy forces (both directly and indirectly through industry forces) and by industry forces (both directly and indirectly through consultancy forces). Finally, past research tends to analyze exclusively the direct effects among variables. We argue that it is important to analyze not only the direct relationships among variables, but also the indirect and total effects for a better understanding of this complex reality (see Lages and Montgomery, 2004). PR has struggled to gain recognition as a senior management function in addition to its role as a tactical marketing tool (Horner, 1992; Dibb et al., 2001). The view that PR’s main role is that of providing tactical support for marketing campaigns largely ignores what PR practitioners and academics see as the more strategic role of PR, namely that of managing the relationships between an organization and those strategically important constituencies – both customer and non-customer – within its environment (e.g. Grunig and Hunt, 1984; Cutlip et al., 1994). MPR might promote the understanding of PR as a strategic tool, the understanding of the client’s problem from a strategic standpoint, the inclusion of research and evaluation in the PR process, and incursion in long-term policies. This implies that client organizations must be aware of the potential of PR as a strategic managerial tool, and that clients must trust PR firms as strategic advisors. These clients’ attitudes require the initiative of the industry in demonstrating their professional worth to them. From a managerial standpoint, individual PR practitioners could frequently set strategic goals, set quantifiable objectives and decide on communication policy. The implications are as follows:
setting strategic goals implies that strategic thinking could complement tactical implementation; setting quantifiable objectives implies that research and evaluation could substitute intuition and trial and error; and deciding on communication policy implies understanding business strategy.
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This understanding implies the importance of professional and academic education as vehicles for knowledge transfer rather than intuition, experience and trial-and-error. Knowledge could become one of the major priorities for the industry as a whole. Future research should also identify key drivers of MPR by investigating clients’ perceptions on this topic. Such an approach would bring interesting guidelines for improving the agency-client relationship as well as consultancies’ performance. Research is also encouraged to investigate not only MPR antecedents, but also MPR outcomes. This is something overlooked by previous empirical research. Future empirical studies might also try to test in which contexts the impact of the determinants presented here might be positive or negative, for example by testing the moderating effects of the consultancy’s experience (e.g. start-ups and established consultancies). To conclude, most empirical studies in the field of PR are exploratory in nature or focus exclusively on the direct effects of different contingent forces. However, as understanding of PR practice has grown in the last few years, it has become clear that we need to look for more complex predictive models that allow the analysis and testing of complex inter-relationships. Similarly to what has been done in the current research, we recommend that future studies develop models that account for intervening (indirect) effects between variables. This type of approach has the potential to enrich our theoretical understanding when analyzing the antecedents and consequents of MPR. Following the principle of strategy-environment co-alignment (Venkatraman and Prescott, 1990), our framework (see Figure 1) assumes that the practice of PR is a result of a strategic response by consultants to the interplay of internal and external forces over their consultancy firm.
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Notes 1. Within this specific context, trade body refers to the two existing professional associations in England, the Institute of Public Relations (IPR) and the Public Relations Consultants Association (PRCA). 2. Evidence for the reliability of the measures is indicated by the fact that the alphas were all above Nunnally’s (1978) recommended level of 0.70. The only exception is the alpha for “Importance of qualifications”, which is 0.69. We have decided to include this construct because this value is near the recommended level of 0.70 and compares reasonably well to accepted levels in the marketing literature (e.g. Jap, 1999; Jap and Ganesan, 2000). 3. The standardized coefficients indicate how a typical variation in the independent variable leads to, or is associated with, a typical change or variation in the dependent variable (Goldberger, 1964). They give an indication of the relative importance to the dependent variable.
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PR consultant’s perceptions at the consultancy level Strategic needs from clients ða ¼ 0:74): . clients ask agency to get involved in their strategic planning; . clients ask for communication beyond PR; . clients ask for evaluation of program; and . clients ask for research-based program.
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Research expenditure (a ¼ 0:87): . evaluation expenditure; and . research expenditure.
PR consultant’s perceptions at the industry level Competition (a ¼ 0:78): . competition from advertising agency/people; . competition from marketing agency/people; . competition from management agency/people; and . competition from sales promotion agency/people. Quality of PR graduates (a ¼ 0:77): . graduates’ strategic thinking; . graduates’ management skills; . graduates’ writing skills; and . graduates’ overall preparation. Trade body contribution (a ¼ 0:77): . trade body membership benefits; . contribution of IPR to professionalism; and . contribution of PR CA to professionalism. Importance of qualifications (a ¼ 0:69): . formal qualifications should be compulsory; and . importance of academic training for PR.
