Putting engagement in its PRoper place: State of the field, definition and model of engagement in public relations

Highlights

• Reviews literature on engagement in the field of public relations.

• Critiques conceptualization of engagement as communicative interaction; redefines engagement to include affective and cognitive dimensions.

• Supports coexistence of all models of engagement ranging from engagement as control to engagement as collaboration.

• Offers a new definition of engagement and a model with antecedent, states and consequences of engagement.

Abstract

Although engagement has been a catchword in public relations practice and theory for over a decade, the term has been applied rather loosely to imply any form of communicative interaction between publics and organizations. Despite lack of clarity on the concept of engagement, research has been thriving, propelled by the increasing prevalence of social media and organizations’ consequent rush to digitally engage publics. This paper assesses the use of engagement in the field of public relations and critiques the equation of engagement with communicative interaction, with its foregrounding engagement as collaboration over that of engagement as control. It also builds upon theoretical conceptualizations of public/stakeholder engagement, employee engagement, and digital engagement to propose a practice-relevant and theoretically informed model and definition of engagement: Engagement is an affective, cognitive, and behavioral state wherein publics and organizations who share mutual interests in salient topics interact along continua that range from passive to active and from control to collaboration, and is aimed at goal attainment, adjustment, and adaptation for both publics and organizations.

Introduction

Engagement has been a buzzword in public relations practice and theory for over a decade, its importance further fueled by Edelman’s (2008) vision of public engagement as the future of public relations. Although the concept has its origins in practice, it has garnered scholarly attention with a special issue in the Journal of Public Relations Research in 2014, a call for papers from the 23rd International Public Relations Research Symposium, BledCom 2016, and a related special issue in Public Relations Review. Research on engagement in public relations has mushroomed, especially in the area of digital engagement (Avidar, Ariel, Malka, & Levy, 2015; Lovari and Parisi, 2015, Men and Tsai, 2014, Men and Tsai, 2015). However, there are few studies on employee engagement (Gill, 2015, Welch, 2011) and even fewer on theoretical conceptualizations of public/stakeholder engagement (Taylor & Kent, 2014; Taylor, Vasquez & Doorley, 2003).

There also has been little theoretical explication of the concept of engagement within public relations, except for rare attempts such as those by Taylor and Kent (2014), who situated engagement within the concept of ethical communication and dialogue, specifically within dialogue’s dimension of propinquity. Despite a lack of clarity on the concept, research on engagement has been booming, driven by the rising popularity of social media and organizations’ scramble to digitally engage organizational publics.

The field of public relations lacks a practice-relevant, theoretically informed model and definition of engagement that can inform practice and chart future directions of research. Accordingly, this paper reviews the literature on the concept of engagement within the field of public relations, identifies key points for consideration, proposes a model and definition for engagement, and suggests directions for future research.