Page-funded research showcases ethical challenges in stakeholder engagement

A special issue of the PRism journal on stakeholder engagement explores ethical challenges organizations face when disseminating messages through several modes of communication. From visual stories non-profits tell with their Instagram accounts to the challenges philanthropic goals pose for major corporations, communication researchers studied the strategies behind these corporate methods and how the public responds.

The research, published in PRism on Dec. 6, was funded by the Page Center. The special issue’s goal is to identify strategies, implications and benchmarking for topics related to stakeholder engagement.

“We are pleased to see the PRism journal acknowledge the value of Page-sponsored research with this special issue,” Page Center director Denise Bortree said. “The Page Center continues to fund excellent research by innovative scholars studying the issues of integrity in public communication.”

Marcia DiStaso, associate professor of advertising/PR, edited the special issue. DiStaso is a Page Center senior research fellow and also managed the center’s 2014 call for proposals on stakeholder engagement.

“It is wonderful to see the publication of some innovative research by top scholars in the field,” said DiStaso
The Page Center’s grant support went to scholars from all over the world. These researchers contributed seven articles to the special issue.

Visit the PRism website to view all publications from the special issue.

Those articles are:

“Social media communicators’ motivations for professional engagement: A study of altruism, reciprocity, and reputation” by Alisa Lertpratchya and Serena Carpenter, Michigan State University

“Online representations of employee resource groups inhibit employee engagement: A critical/cultural analysis of corporate websites” by Cheryl Ann Lambert and Catalina Quintana, Boston University

“Considering ethics in visual storytelling: A study of nonprofit organizations on Instagram” by Marcus Messner and Jeanine Guidry, Virginia Commonwealth University

“Examining the impact of advertising vs. public relations in consumer engagement with social responsibility” by Dustin Supa, Boston University and Melissa Dodd, University of Central Florida

“Ethical stakeholder engagement: Exploring the relationships between corporations and NGOs in Thailand, Romania, and the UK” by Georgiana Grigore, Anastasios Theofilou, Tom Watson, Bournemouth University, and Parichart Sthapitanonda, Chulalongkorn University

“Social responsibility and the evolution of corporate philanthropy: An analysis of successful corporate-cause partnerships in an era of the global corporate citizen” by Heidi Hatfield Edwards, Florida Institute of Technology
“Identifying the values of guide stakeholder expectations” by John Brummette and Lynn Zoch, Radford University

According to its website, PRism is a free-access, online, peer-refereed public relations and communication research journal. It was established in 2002 to meet the need for readily available, quality controlled public relations and communication research materials online.