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Antecedents of managerial publicrelations: a structural model

examinationCarmen Lages

ISCTE Business School-Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal, and

Luis Filipe LagesUniversidade Nova de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal

Abstract

Purpose This paper identifies key forces influencing the degree of managerial public relations

(MPR), i.e. the practice of public relations (PR) as a strategic tool.Design/methodology/approach Using survey data of nearly 300 PR consultants from English

firms, the authors propose a conceptual framework of MPR and test it through structural equation

modeling (SEM).

Findings Findings reveal that research expenditure and importance given to qualifications are key

antecedents of MPR. Surprisingly, while the direct effect of the perceived quality of PR graduates on

the practice of MPR is non-significant, the indirect effect through research expenditure is highly

significant and negative.

Research limitations/implications Future research is encouraged to identify key drivers of

MPR by investigating clients perceptions on this topic. Such an approach would bring interesting

guidelines for improving the agency-client relationship as well as consultancies performance.

Research is also encouraged to investigate not only MPR antecedents, but also MPR outcomes.

Practical implications From a practitioner perspective, a better comprehension of MPR might

promote the understanding of PR as a strategic tool, the understanding of the clients problem from a

strategic standpoint, the inclusion of research and evaluation in the PR process, and incursion in

long-term policies.

Originality/value Following the principle of strategy-environment co-alignment, this paper shows

that the practice of PR is a result of a strategic response by consultants to the interplay of internal and

external forces over their consultancy firm.

Keywords Public relations, Marketing communications, Linear structure equation modelling,

Consultants, United Kingdom

Paper type Research paper

The Emerald Research Register for this journal is available at The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at

www.emeraldinsight.com/researchregister www.emeraldinsight.com/0309-0566.htm

This research has benefited from the financial support of Fundacao para a Ciencia e aTecnologia-Portugal/European Union (SFRH/BPD/3649/2000) and the support of WarwickBusiness School in conducting the survey. Carmen Lages also acknowledges research supportfrom UNIDE/ISCTE. Luis Filipe Lages acknowledges a research grant from NOVA EGIDE. Weare also grateful to Lyndon Simkin, Paulo Gomes, and participants of Nova-IRW seminar, as wellas EJM reviewers and reviewers of the EMAC and ANZMAC conferences for comments onearlier versions of this manuscript. The collaboration of British PR consultants was alsoinvaluable to the completion of this project.

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110

Received September 2003Revised March 2004;June 2004

European Journal of MarketingVol. 39 No. 1/2, 2005pp. 110-128q Emerald Group Publishing Limited0309-0566DOI 10.1108/03090560510572043
http://www.emeraldinsight.com/researchregisterhttp://www.emeraldinsight.com/0309-0566.htmhttp://www.emeraldinsight.com/0309-0566.htmhttp://www.emeraldinsight.com/researchregister


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IntroductionThe contribution of public relations (PR) for marketing purposes, particularly in thecontext of marketing communications, has been extensively recognized (e.g. Kotler andMindak, 1978; Kotler, 1982; Goldman, 1984; White, 1991; Henry, 1995; Kitchen, 1996).

From a marketing perspective, the tendency has been to treat PR primarily as apublicity function whose main role is seen as providing tactical support for marketingcampaigns (Kotler, 1982, 1986, 2000; Shimp and Delozier, 1986). This study argues thatPR not only provides tactical support for marketing campaigns, but also plays astrategic role through managerial public relations (MPR).

Specifically, this paper looks more closely at the managerial function of PRconsultants, which has been largely ignored by previous research. This may bebecause the existing marketing and PR literature does not provide specific measuresfor the proposed conceptualization. Lages and Simkins (2003) study is an exception,and their proposed operationalization of MPR is employed here. While building ontheir work, this paper analyzes key antecedents of MPR in the context of PRconsultancy exercise.

Although there is some evidence suggesting that PR is used mainly as a tacticalmarketing support activity to generate product publicity (Moss et al., 1997) and that PRpractitioners are found not to play a significant strategic role (Hogg and Doolan, 1999),research suggests the (co)existence of a tactical and strategic approach in PR practice,namely identifying two major PR practitioner roles, i.e.:

(1) the manager role, which creates and manages strategic PR programs; and

(2) the technician role, which writes, edits and produces publications (Dozier, 1992).

Within this line, Grunig and Grunig (1992) proposed that PR practice might beconceptualized in terms of two continua: one of craft PR and one of professional PR.While practitioners of craft PR apply communication techniques to get publicity and

information into communication media, practitioners of professional PR lean on a bodyof knowledge and techniques to use PR with a strategic purpose.

Modern PR is seen as the strategic management of communication, aiming atdeveloping relationships between an organization and its various internal and externalpublics, and not only consumers (Ledingham and Bruning, 1998). The search forbalance between internal/external realities, by adapting the organizations mission tothe environment, is seen as the key proposition of PR in the management process(Grunig, 1992).

The article is organized as follows: in the next section, we develop a conceptualframework that incorporates the relationships among consultancy and industry forcesand MPR. We then develop a set of research hypotheses, which are summarized into anoperational model. This is followed by a description of our methodology for testing the

hypotheses. This model is then tested via a field survey of nearly 300 PR consultants.We conclude with a discussion of results, limitations and directions for future research.

Conceptual frameworkThe particular theoretical perspective adopted here is the principle ofstrategy-environment coalignment (Venkatraman and Prescott, 1990), whichsuggests a fit between strategy and its context whether it is the external

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environment or organizational characteristics. The principle has its roots in industrialorganizations (cf. Scherer and Ross, 1990) and rests on two premises:

(1) that organizations are dependent on the internal and external environments forresources (Pfeffer and Salancik, 1978); and

(2) that organizations can manage this dependence by developing and maintainingstrategies (Hofer and Shendel, 1978).

Hence, our framework (see Figure 1) assumes that the practice of PR is a result of astrategic response by consultants to the interplay of internal and external forces overtheir consultancy firm.

Figure 1 presents consultants perceptions at three broad levels:

(1) consultancy;

(2) industry; and

(3) practitioner.

The logic that underpins the model is to verify the impact of some contingent (internaland external) forces on the PR consultants practice of MPR. More specifically, theframework postulates that MPR is affected by consultancy internal forces (i.e. researchexpenditure and strategic needs from clients) and PR industry external forces (i.e.competition, quality of PR graduates, trade body contribution, and importance ofqualifications). Below we present the variables that comprise each of the three broaddimensions (Figure 1).

Consultants perceptions at the practitioner levelAt the practitioner level, MPR is defined as the extent to which PR practitioners engagein tasks of a strategic nature. Hence, MPR includes issues that concern activitiestypically carried out at the managerial level, and the more frequently the practitioner

Figure 1.A conceptual frameworkof key antecedents of MPR

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of attack regarding how resources should be deployed to achieve objectives, andshould therefore provide direction and implementation procedures (Wind andRobertson, 1983; Day, 1984; Morris and Pitt, 1993). Strategy is assumed to aid PR inachieving its objective of building a favorable reputation by obtaining mutualunderstanding between organizations and their constituencies, through themanagement of communication. At the practitioner level, PR implies thatpractitioners master technical skills while understanding why to employ them.

Indeed, previous research indicates the existence of a PR manager role (Dozier, 1992;Toth et al., 1998; Hogg and Doolan, 1999; Moss and Green, 2001).

Todays institutions depend on their handling of information, as this helps them toenhance decisions by reducing uncertainty (Deshpande and Zaltman, 1982; Turner, 1991;Glazer, 1991). Although there are examples of successful marketing decisions beingtaken on the basis of intuition, it is frequently proposed that decisions based onmarketing research information are essential for business success (Kohli and Jaworski,1990; Narver and Slater, 1990). Considering that MPR includes two items that relate tothe assessment of results (frequency of setting quantifiable objectives, and frequency ofassessing progress periodically), one would expect that research expenditure would havea positive impact on the frequency of practice of MPR. Hence our first hypothesis is:

H1a. A PR consultancys research expenditure is positively associated with thepractice of MPR by PR consultants.

Traditionally, PR (both in-house and consultancies) tends to recruit from otherprofessions, such as journalism, law and business, and these entrants wouldsubsequently be trained in PR by apprenticeship (Hatfield, 1994). Thus, the previousgeneration of practitioners learned more by trial and error than by formal qualificationspecifically in PR. Although PR graduates have been increasingly available to theindustry, it seems that the industry has been reluctant to recruit PR graduates in

Figure 2.An operational model ofkey antecedents of MPR

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significant numbers. Overall, the literature suggests that PR graduates in somedeveloped countries, such as the UK, have a poorer reputation than other graduates towork in the PR industry (Lages and Simkin, 2003). PR consultants who practice MPRare frequently engaged in managerial type tasks such as setting quantifiable objectives

and setting strategic goals, and because such tasks are not included in the curricula oftypical university PR degree programs, they are therefore expected to perceive thequality of PR graduates to be less adequate. This leads to the following hypothesis:

H1b. Consultants perceptions about the quality of PR graduates are negativelyassociated with the practice of MPR.

Practitioners who engage more frequently in MPR are expected to give moreimportance to formal qualifications and academic training. For managerial positions,education seems to be given more weight than experience, as shown by Panagyrakiss(1994) study on the backgrounds of PR managers in several countries. This studyconfirmed that college graduation was the minimum requirement for advancing to amanagerial position, hence:

H1c. Consultants perceptions about the importance of qualifications for PRpractice are positively associated with the practice of MPR.

Antecedents of research expenditurePR consultants whose clients have strategic needs are expected to spend more onresearch and evaluation. However, for a better understanding of PR there is a need forthose clients to become literate in strategic public relations (Countrywide PorterNovelli, 1998). Moreover, PR practitioners tend to have a limited notion of research andevaluation, and a disinclination to learn about PR evaluation techniques (White, 1988).

Research and evaluation seems to be used mainly as a reactive tool, i.e. to present dataon which practitioners would be judged, instead of proactively improving or fine-tuningcurrent activity (Watson, 1994). Although PR practitioners recognize that PR sufferswhen results might not be measured, they also fear evaluation because it might revealunsatisfactory results. Research and evaluation are more likely to occur when clients arestrategically oriented, because they invest more in PR firms services for strategicproblem resolution and therefore seek results of their investment. Hence, we expect that:

H2a. Strategic needs from clients are positively associated with researchexpenditure.

Within the field of strategic management the resource-based view of the firm

(Barney, 1991; Teece et al., 1997) argues that sustainable competitive advantage occursif a firm has a resource that is valuable, rare among competitors, difficult to imitate andable to deliver clients products that embody that resource. From this perspective,consulting firms consider research knowledge to be a core capability for achievingcompetitive advantage (Pasternack and Viscio, 1998). Hence, PR practitioners whoperceive higher competition in the industry are expected to spend more on research andevaluation in order to achieve competitive advantage.

H2b. Perceived competition is positively associated with research expenditure.


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Nowadays, managers expect universities to provide their graduates with a set of skillsto perform in the practitioner world. These expectations will be higher from firms inwhich research and evaluation expenditure is higher. For example, they are more likelyto expect that PR students will need to understand the intricacies of research in order

to understand research specialists, to evaluate their work, and to use the information indecision making (Stern and Tseng, 2002, p. 225). Practitioners who spend more onresearch tend to be more involved in strategic activities, and are therefore expected toperceive PR graduates as having poor preparation to work in the PR industry. Thus:

H2c. Consultants perceptions about the quality of PR graduates are negativelyassociated with research expenditure.

Antecedents of quality of PR graduatesThe need for professional and academic training within the PR industry is widelyacknowledged (Hatfield, 1994; Dibb et al., 1996; LEtang and Pieczka, 1996). PR firmswhose clients profiles have strategic needs are expected to perceive PR academiccourses as not meeting all the requirements for the strategic end of the market.According to Lagess (2001) study, respondents believe that PR degrees needimprovement, especially through the enhancement of numeracy and business skills.Interviewees perceived that PR graduates were not trained to think like abusinessperson. Particularly, practitioners whose clients have strategic needs areexpected to perceive PR graduates as having poor preparation to work in the PRindustry because they might be more demanding towards them. Thus:

H3a. Strategic needs from clients are negatively associated with consultantsperceptions about the quality of PR graduates.

Firms operating in highly competitive markets tend to be more demanding becauseintense competition increases market uncertainty and unpredictability (Gupta et al.,1986). Moreover, in these environments market shares become more volatile (Day andWensley, 1988). Hence, practitioners who perceive higher competition (fromadvertising, marketing, management and sales promotion agencies/people) will tendto impose higher standards. Consequently, they will tend to have higher expectationsand will perceive PR graduates as having less adequate preparation to work in a highlycompetitive PR industry. This leads us to the following hypothesis:

H3b. Perceived competition is negatively associated with consultants perceptionsabout the quality of PR graduates.

The fact that many mechanisms of professionalization are not in place contributes toPRs poor reputation: there are no barriers to new entrants, no certification is required,and only rarely is large capital investment necessary. PR professional associations areseen to have limited membership benefits and to make a limited contribution to thedevelopment of professional standards (Lages, 2001). Practitioners perceiving that PRassociations contribute to the industry might tend to perceive that PR graduatescontribute in a like manner. Those who perceive that the professional PR associations(trade bodies) contribute to professionalism might have an overall better perception

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towards the PR industry, and are therefore expected to perceive PR graduates ashaving more adequate preparation:

H3c. Trade body contribution to professionalism is positively associated with

consultants perceptions about the quality of PR graduates.

Antecedents of importance of qualificationsIn their study of professionalism, sociology academics have tried to identify what it isthat makes a profession as opposed to an occupation. One of the characteristics of aprofession is a vocation founded in a body of knowledge (Freidson, 1986; Halliday,1987; Abbott, 1988), which underlines the importance of qualifications. In agreementwith this position, some PR scholars have argued for the central role of PR education inadvancing PR to a comparable standard of established professions (Hatfield, 1994;LEtang and Pieczka, 1996; Grunig and Grunig, 1992), although acknowledging that PRis developing its own unique body of knowledge.

Practitioners who perceive higher competition are expected to perceivequalifications to be more important. Practitioners who perceive that they havecompetition are more likely to believe that academic training is important for PRpractice and that formal academic or professional qualifications should be madecompulsory. Qualifications upgrade PR to strengthen its capacity to face competitionfrom more established fields, such as management, marketing, advertising, and salespromotion. An awareness of competition leads to the valuing of qualifications as ameans of meeting the challenge of competition. Thus:

H4a. Perceived competition is positively associated with consultants perceptionsabout the importance of qualifications.

Some practitioners believe that experience is the most valuable requirement, andconsequently might not value a trade bodyss contribution at the education level.Indeed, in a recent study, it was concluded that some PR professional associations arenot fully exploring the opportunity offered by education to raise their members level ofknowledge and skills to a professional level (LEtang, 1999, p. 284). Despite tradebodies attempts to impose a rigorous system of entry by qualification, there is anabsence of a delineated specialized PR education on which to base specific standards.Practitioners who perceive that a trade body contributes to professionalism have anoverall positive view of the industry, and consequently might perceive qualifications asbeing important:

H4b. Trade bodies contribution to professionalism is positively associated withconsultants perceptions about the importance of qualifications.

Any occupation with aspirations to professionalize finds education an indispensablepath to reach that goal. Education helps to define PR expertise and the scope of itsactivity to provide theoretical underpinning for its practice and ethics and to legitimizeits process of social acceptance (LEtang, 1999). Practitioners who perceive PRgraduates as having a better preparation are naturally expected to value qualificationsmore:


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H4c. Consultants perceptions of the quality of PR graduates are positivelyassociated with the importance of qualifications.

MethodThe research settingThe PR consultancy world provides the context for this study. Institutions face theneed for skilled staff to deal problems. Engaging in-house specialists from among staffto solve these situations, particularly emergencies, sometimes becomes unfeasiblebecause staff training takes time and money. In these situations, organizations maydecide to subcontract the expert services of professionals who help organizations solvetheir problems or improve their situation. Consultants in many areas are used for avariety of reasons that normally fall into three categories:

(1) resources;

(2) specialization and expertise; and(3) objectivity (Bryan, 1992; Sturdy, 1997).

Conversely, consultants may be hired when managers simply desire to use thepresumed objectivity and/or status of an outsider to legitimatize a decision (Sturdy1997).

SampleAlthough the PR occupation comprises both practitioners working in externalconsultancies and practitioners working in-house for an organization, a sample ofexternal consultants was drawn from the UK Hollis Directory (1999) for three mainreasons. First, it provided the only comprehensive database with consultancy contacts.

Second, this was the most up-to-date database available at the time of the survey.Third, this study intends to contribute toward filling a literature gap by using PRconsultants as the target population. Most studies tend to build on the perceptions ofin-house practitioners, although external consultants are behind many organizationsPR practice (Dibb et al., 1996; White and Blamphin, 1995).

Data collection procedurePrimary data were collected through preliminary interviews, a mail survey andfollow-up interviews. From a sample frame of N 2; 308, 1,000 managers wereselected through stratified random sampling (geographical criteria) and mailed aquestionnaire survey. The sample obtained for the study, 297 valid questionnaires(equivalent to a 29.7 percent response rate), exceeds the minimum required for theoverall sample and for each stratum.

Non-response bias was tested by assessing the differences between the early andlate respondents with regard to the means of all variables (Armstrong and Overton,1977). Early respondents were defined as the first 75 percent of the returnedquestionnaires, and the last 25 percent were considered to be late respondents. Theseproportions approximate the actual way in which questionnaires were returned. Nosignificant differences among the early and late respondents were found, suggestingthat response bias was not a significant problem in the study.

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The survey was directed toward PR practitioners of English consultancies in 1999.Respondents are experienced senior practitioners and therefore have significantknowledge about their own job and industry. Most are male (58 percent), in their fortiesor fifties (62 percent) and hold a degree (44 percent) or A levels (27 percent) as their

highest qualification. The PR sample is young (73.5 percent of PR firms were createdafter the 1980s), and are made up of small-sized firms, mostly with fewer than sixemployees (65 percent) and fewer than ten clients (58 percent) and a turnover below500,000. Agencies tend to be more business-to-business oriented (47 percent) thanconsumer-oriented and are more generalist (55 percent) than specialized. The majorityof agencies in the sample are not internationalized.

FindingsConfirmatory factor analysisIn order to assess the validity of the measures, the items are subjected to aconfirmatory factor analysis using full-information maximum likelihood (FIML)

estimation procedures in LISREL 8.3 (Joreskog and Sorbom, 1993). In this model, eachitem is restricted to load on its pre-specified factor, with the seven first-order factorsallowed to correlate freely. The x2 for this model is significant (x2 384:48, 231df,p , 0:00). Since the x2 statistic is sensitive to sample size, we also assess additional fitindices: the comparative fit index (CFI), the incremental fit index (IFI), and theTucker-Lewis fit index (TLI). The CFI, IFI, and TLI of this model are 0.92, 0.92, and0.91, respectively. Since fit indices can be improved by allowing more terms to be freelyestimated, we also assessed the root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA),which assesses fit and incorporates a penalty for lack of parsimony. An RMSEA of 0.05or less indicates a close fit to the population. The RMSEA of this measurement model is0.047. The measurement model revealed discriminant and convergent validity.Discriminant validity was evidenced by the correlation estimates between any twoconstructs. No correlation includes the value of 1 (Anderson and Gerbing, 1982).Convergent validity was evidenced by large and significant standardized loadings ofeach item on its construct (p . 0:01) (Joreskog and Sorbom, 1993).

A full listing of the final constructs and their scale reliabilities can be found in theAppendix. The average internal reliability (Cronbachs a) was 0.78[2].

Structural model estimationThe conceptual framework of Figure 2 is simultaneously estimated in a structuralequation model using FIML estimation procedures in LISREL 8.3. This model containsseven constructs, 24 observable indicators, measurement and latent variable errors,and inter-correlations between the latent constructs. The estimation results for the

significant structural paths are shown in Table I. This model has a x2 of 386.27 (237 df,p , 0:00), while the fit indices suggest a good fit of the model to the data (CFI 0:92,IFI 0:93, TLI 0:91, RMSEA 0:046). This reveals that the final model is good inreproducing the population covariance structure, and there is an acceptablediscrepancy between the observed and predicted covariance matrices (Steiger, 1990).

A final examination of the individual paths indicates that seven of the 12 predicteddirectrelationships are confirmed to be statistically significant. Additionally, there aretwo indirect and eight total significant effects.


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h1QualityofPR

h3

Importanceof

h4Manager

ialpublic

graduates

h2Researchexpenditure

q

ualifications

relations

Direct

Indirect

Total

D

irect

Indirect

Total

Direct

Indirect

Total

Direct

Indirect

Total

j1Strategicneedsfrom

clients

0.1

3

1.7

1

H3aNS

0.1

3

1.7

1

20.0

3

20.3

6

H2

aNS

20.0

3

21.5

5

20.0

6

20.8

0

20.0

1

21.0

8

20.0

1

21.0

8

20.02

20.75

20.0

2

20.7

5

j2Competition

0.1

3

1.7

8

H3bU

0.1

3

1.7

8

0.0

1

0.1

8

H2

bNS

20.0

3

21.5

9

20.0

2

20.2

9

0.2

3

3.4

2

H4aU

20.0

1

21.0

8

0.2

2

3.2

7

0.030.77

0.0

3

0.7

7

j3Tradebodycontribution

0.3

0

3.7

8

H3cU

0.3

0

3.7

8

20.0

7**

22.6

4

20.0

7**

22.6

4

0.4

0

5.3

8

H4bU

20.0

3

21.2

7

0.3

7

5.3

2

0.030.87

0.0

3

0.8

7

h1QualityofPRgradua

tes

20.2

5

23.2

1

H2

cU

20.2

5

23.2

1

20.1

0

21.3

7

H4cNS

20.1

0

21.3

7

0.0

2

0.3

0

H1bNS

20.12

23.04

20.1

0

21.3

7

h2Researchexpenditure

0.4

3

5.6

7

H1aU

0.4

3

5.6

7

h3Importanceofqualific

ations

0.1

5

2.1

0

H1cU

0.1

5

2.1

0

Notes:Valuesinupperr

owsarecompletelystandardizedestim

ates;valuesinlowerrowsaret-values

;p,

0:

05;p,

0:

01(one-tailedtes

t)/*p,

0:

05;

**p,

0:

01(two-tailedtest)

Table I.Effects of exogenous andprior endogenousconstructs

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Discussion of findingsOur findings reveal that the most important determinant of MPR is researchexpenditure, which is almost three times more important than importance given toqualifications[3]. Surprisingly, while the direct effect of the perceived quality of PR

graduates on the practice of MPR is non-significant, the indirect effect throughresearch expenditure is highly significant and negative (the total effect becamenon-significant). So, although perception of PR graduates preparation appears not tohave a direct effect on the practice of MPR, consultants that practice more MPR, whenspending more on research and evaluation, tend to perceive that PR graduatespreparation is unsatisfactory. The follow-up interviews revealed that whenconsidering the perceived quality of PR graduates to work in the PR industry,British PR graduates have a worse reputation than other graduates. A possibleexplanation is that practitioners who spend more on research and evaluation tend to bemore involved in strategic activities, and are therefore expected to perceive PRgraduates as having poor preparation to work in the PR industry.

Second, there is a highly significant negative indirect impact of perceived tradebody contribution on research expenditure, through perceived quality of PR graduates.Consultants who spend more on research and evaluation have a less favorableperception of trade body contribution and a less favorable perception of the quality ofPR graduates. Practitioners who perceive that the British trade body contributes toprofessionalism and that PR graduates have good preparation are probably lessdemanding, less involved in strategic activities, and would be expected to spend less onresearch.

Finally, a possible explanation for the non-significant effect of strategic needs fromclients on both the quality of PR graduates and research expenditure is the fact thatwhen clients ask a PR firm to solve strategic needs, it does not mean that the PR firm isprepared, i.e. it does not mean that the firm has the required human and financial

resources to do it. This might also explain the positive relationship between quality ofPR graduates and research expenditure.

Limitations of the researchSome limitations of the research should be considered. The first limitation is associatedwith the sample frame. It arises from the unavailability of a complete listing of all unitsof the population, which was defined by the sample frame availability. The samplingframe was the Hollis Directory, a list of names and contacts of PR consultancymanagers in England, which nevertheless was the most up-to-date and comprehensivedatabase at the date of the study. Second, this is a stratified-random judgment sampledue to time and financial resource constraints. Our results became skewed towards PRconsultants, which makes it difficult to generalize our findings to other important PRplayers. For example, PR clients (who emerged as fundamental actors), PR scholars, PRstudents, in-house PR practitioners and other practitioners who compete with PR firms(e.g. marketing, advertising and management consultants) are not represented in thesample. Third, the fact that the sample involves only practitioners from a singlecountry may limit the generalizability of the results to some degree. However, countriesin situations similar to that of England may also benefit from the findings.

Another limitation is associated with the type of data. First, the data, and hencefindings, are somewhat dated. Second, the data are not longitudinal. Hence, the survey


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methodology may have created common method variance that could have inflatedconstruct relationships. This inflation could be particularly threatening if therespondents were aware of the conceptual framework of interest. However, they werenot appraised of the specific purpose of the study, and all of the construct items were

separated and mixed so that no respondent should have been able to detect whichitems were affecting which factors (Lages and Jap, 2003; Lages et al., 2004). Hence, thebias of common method variance was partially minimized. Furthermore, weguaranteed confidentiality to all survey participants, which also helps to reduce thepossibility of bias in performance reports for self-presentation reasons (Singh, 2000).Additionally, if common method bias exists, a CFA containing all constructs shouldproduce a single method factor (Podsakoff and Organ, 1986; Lages and Lages, 2004).The goodness-of-fit indices (CFI 0:25, IFI 0:26, TLI 0:18, RMSEA 0:156)indicate a poor fit for both models, which suggests that biasing from common methodvariance is unlikely.

Conclusions and implicationsOur work is differentiated from past research in a number of ways. First, the paperuses MPR (i.e. the practice of PR as a strategic tool) as a dependent variable. It isbelieved that research in PR can be enriched if it incorporates strategic considerations.Second, this research is one of the few works that considers strategic co-alignment withthe internal and external context by including the role of consultancy and industryforces in the same framework. Third, previous research tends to focus on singlerelationships among variables while rarely considering their simultaneous effects. Ourapproach is expected to develop he understanding of how MPR is simultaneouslyaffected by consultancy forces (both directly and indirectly through industry forces)and by industry forces (both directly and indirectly through consultancy forces).

Finally, past research tends to analyze exclusively the direct effects among variables.We argue that it is important to analyze not only the direct relationships amongvariables, but also the indirect and total effects for a better understanding of thiscomplex reality (see Lages and Montgomery, 2004).

PR has struggled to gain recognition as a senior management function in addition toits role as a tactical marketing tool (Horner, 1992; Dibb et al., 2001). The view that PRsmain role is that of providing tactical support for marketing campaigns largely ignoreswhat PR practitioners and academics see as the more strategic role of PR, namely thatof managing the relationships between an organization and those strategicallyimportant constituencies both customer and non-customer within its environment(e.g. Grunig and Hunt, 1984; Cutlip et al., 1994).

MPR might promote the understanding of PR as a strategic tool, the understanding

of the clients problem from a strategic standpoint, the inclusion of research andevaluation in the PR process, and incursion in long-term policies. This implies thatclient organizations must be aware of the potential of PR as a strategic managerial tool,and that clients must trust PR firms as strategic advisors. These clients attitudesrequire the initiative of the industry in demonstrating their professional worth to them.

From a managerial standpoint, individual PR practitioners could frequently setstrategic goals, set quantifiable objectives and decide on communication policy. Theimplications are as follows:

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. setting strategic goals implies that strategic thinking could complement tacticalimplementation;

. setting quantifiable objectives implies that research and evaluation couldsubstitute intuition and trial and error; and

. deciding on communication policy implies understanding business strategy.

This understanding implies the importance of professional and academic education asvehicles for knowledge transfer rather than intuition, experience and trial-and-error.Knowledge could become one of the major priorities for the industry as a whole.

Future research should also identify key drivers of MPR by investigating clientsperceptions on this topic. Such an approach would bring interesting guidelines forimproving the agency-client relationship as well as consultancies performance.Research is also encouraged to investigate not only MPR antecedents, but also MPRoutcomes. This is something overlooked by previous empirical research. Futureempirical studies might also try to test in which contexts the impact of the

determinants presented here might be positive or negative, for example by testing themoderating effects of the consultancys experience (e.g. start-ups and establishedconsultancies).

To conclude, most empirical studies in the field of PR are exploratory in nature orfocus exclusively on the direct effects of different contingent forces. However, asunderstanding of PR practice has grown in the last few years, it has become clear thatwe need to look for more complex predictive models that allow the analysis and testingof complex inter-relationships. Similarly to what has been done in the current research,we recommend that future studies develop models that account for intervening(indirect) effects between variables. This type of approach has the potential to enrichour theoretical understanding when analyzing the antecedents and consequents ofMPR. Following the principle of strategy-environment co-alignment (Venkatraman

and Prescott, 1990), our framework (see Figure 1) assumes that the practice of PR is aresult of a strategic response by consultants to the interplay of internal and externalforces over their consultancy firm.

Notes

1. Within this specific context, trade body refers to the two existing professional associations inEngland, the Institute of Public Relations (IPR) and the Public Relations ConsultantsAssociation (PRCA).

2. Evidence for the reliability of the measures is indicated by the fact that the alphas were allabove Nunnallys (1978) recommended level of 0.70. The only exception is the alpha forImportance of qualifications, which is 0.69. We have decided to include this constructbecause this value is near the recommended level of 0.70 and compares reasonably well toaccepted levels in the marketing literature (e.g. Jap, 1999; Jap and Ganesan, 2000).

3. The standardized coefficients indicate how a typical variation in the independent variableleads to, or is associated with, a typical change or variation in the dependent variable(Goldberger, 1964). They give an indication of the relative importance to the dependentvariable.


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Appendix

Scale items and reliabilities

PR consultants perceptions at the practitioner levelManagerial public relations (a 0:81):

. frequency setting strategic goals;

. frequency setting quantifiable objectives;

. frequency deciding on communications policy;

. frequency assessing progress periodically; and

. frequency making presentations.

PR consultants perceptions at the consultancy levelStrategic needs from clients a 0:74):

. clients ask agency to get involved in their strategic planning;

. clients ask for communication beyond PR;

. clients ask for evaluation of program; and

. clients ask for research-based program.


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19/19

Research expenditure (a 0:87):. evaluation expenditure; and. research expenditure.

PR consultants perceptions at the industry levelCompetition (a 0:78):

. competition from advertising agency/people;

. competition from marketing agency/people;

. competition from management agency/people; and

. competition from sales promotion agency/people.

Quality of PR graduates (a 0:77):. graduates strategic thinking;. graduates management skills;. graduates writing skills; and. graduates overall preparation.

Trade body contribution (a 0:77):. trade body membership benefits;. contribution of IPR to professionalism; and. contribution of PR CA to professionalism.

Importance of qualifications (a 0:69):. formal qualifications should be compulsory; and. importance of academic training for PR.

EJM39,1/2

128

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