In search of communication excellence: Public relations’ value, empowerment, and structure in strategic management

The multifaceted roles of public relations are not well-understood in strategic management. Thus, this study reviews strategic management literature and presents empirical evidence on the relevance of public relations to strategic management. Using data collected from public relations practitioners and organizational leaders in the Generally Accepted Practice (GAP) survey conducted by the University of Southern California (USC) and the Excellence Study commissioned by the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) Research Foundation, the dynamics between the public relations function and organizational outcomes (i.e., corporate strategic orientation and corporate legitimacy performance) are explored. The findings present new empirical evidence of the contributions that public relations makes to strategic management (i.e., its value), the conditions under which public relations makes more contributions to strategic management (i.e., its empowerment) and the differences between marketing-dominant and public relations-independent communication departments in terms of their focus and effects on organizational outcomes (i.e., its structure). The relevance of the findings to the strategic management role of public relations today is discussed.