Public Relations Strategizing: A Theoretical Framework for Understanding the Doing of Strategy in Public Relations

ABSTRACT

Strategy is considered one of the most central concepts in public relations research and practice. However, public relations strategizing, i.e., the doing of strategy, remains a black-box concept in public relations and would benefit from additional approaches to theorizing strategy. This conceptual article draws upon strategy-as-practice, practice theory, and the existentialist notion of human modes of being and articulates a theoretical framework describing four modes of strategizing in public relations: (1) absorbed strategizing, (2) deliberate strategizing, (3) deliberative strategizing and (4) abstract strategizing. The first three modes are conceptualized as immersed modes of strategizing in everyday activities, while the fourth is conceptualized as a detached mode of strategizing in strategic planning activities. Then, it draws upon Mintzberg and Waters’ (1984) five types of strategy and situates the four modes of public relations strategizing in strategy formation and realization. The article thereby contributes to theorizing strategy and strategizing in public relations by offering researchers a theoretical framework for researching strategizing in public relations.

KEYWORDS:

• Consequentiality
• practice theory
• public relations
• strategizing
• strategy

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. When searching for research articles containing the keyword “strategy” in either the title, abstract, or keywords in PRR, and title in JoPRR since JoPRR did not have the option to include keywords in the search. The search was conducted in September 2023.

2. For the sake of simplicity, I use public relations interchangeably with “communication management,” “corporate communication,” and “strategic communication,” and variations of public relations practices, such as “crisis communication,” “risk communication,” and “health communication”

3. The term “functionalist” is often used to describe research that departs from an objectivist, realist, and positivist standpoint (c.f. Burrell & Morgan, 1979). However, for example, Grunig (2006), whose research is often labeled functionalist, rejects positivist ideas that “theories are ‘true’ because they reflect an underlying order in the universe” (pp. 151–152). Thus, the term functionalist, as used in this article, refers to public relations research that does not necessarily ascribe to objectivism, realism, or positivism but tends to focus on the strategic management of public relations and shares the pragmatic ambition to develop knowledge that can be of practical use to organizations of various types rather than, for example, sociocultural approaches that tend to focus more on investigating the role of public relations in society.

Additional information

Funding

This research received no specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.