Effects of Organizational Worldviews on the Practice of Public Relations: A Test of the Theory of Public Relations Excellence

A survey of public relations practitioners reveals that asymmetrical and symmetrical worldviews may be reliably measured. Three hypotheses derived from Grunig's excellence theory were tested. Results provided some support for the theory. World- views were found to be empirically related to the four models of public relations and to public relations effectiveness. Unexpected findings lead to the suggestion to either improve the measurement of the four models of public relations or to reconsider their role in the theory of public relations excellence.