Contingent organization-public relationship (COPR) matters: reconciling the contingency theory of accommodation into the relationship management paradigm

Although the relational approach has been a focus in many published public relations studies, the dynamic and longitudinal aspects of relationships deserve more exploration. Through explicating and examining the concept of contingent organization-public relationship (COPR) in two empirical studies, this article investigates relationships between corporations and activist publics, and provides dynamic instances of the value of COPR and its six modes in conflictual situations. By tracking the stances of each corporation and its activists longitudinally through content analysis, results generate the occurrence and changes of relationship modes over time. Findings show that COPR is equally applicable in both resolved and unresolved U.S. conflicts. Regardless of whether the problems were resolved or not, competing relationships occurred more frequently than cooperating relationships, which strengthens the argument that both parties maintain competing relationships for self-interests and may adopt strategies to achieve mutual benefits as well. The integrating of the contingency theory of accommodation into the relationship management paradigm shows great promise reflected in current findings as well as future directions.