Purpose–This paper seeks to clarify the various aspects of legitimacy in public relations in
order to establish a better understanding of the limits of professionalization. Legitimacy has …

The paper takes up the challenge offered in the call for papers for this special issue to
explore the notion of public relations as “ethical guardian”. The approach taken is to review …

This article investigates objectives and evaluations used in 111 prize-winning case studies
to understand types of knowledge used in public relations and ways that the effectiveness of …

Though public relations practice everywhere is suffering from low standards of
professionalism, practitioners are hardly looking for support from public relations scholars …

No one would disagree with the observation that the quality of public relations varies widely.
How and why such variances occur are fundamental theoretic questions for public relations …

The debate on the professional status of Communication Management/Public relations 1
has been high on the worldwide agenda for decades. While previous research has focused …

In the United Kingdom, popular sceptism about the merits of public relations has prompted
self-reflection among practitioners and industry bodies. At the root of the public debate is the …

Do professions really place duty to society above clients' or their own interests? If not, how
can they be trusted? While some public relations (PR) scholars claim that PR serves society …

The primary foundations of public relations ethics literature focus on professionalism and
social responsibility. This manuscript traces the roots of the two concepts. The discussion of …

Despite the widespread acceptance of organizational legitimacy as a central concept in
management theory, public relations researchers and practitioners have been slow to …