| Institute for Public Relations

Volume 15: Issue 2 (September 2022)

Editor's Introduction

Hilary Fussell Sisco, Ph.D., APR
Editor-in-Chief

Welcome to Volume 15 Issue 2 of Public Relations Journal, our second issue of 2022. Recently, there have been more and more calls across our field for a continued emphasis on the applied science of public relations. Public Relations Journal continues to publish research that has real implications for the practice and has clear rigor in research standards. As our profession and discipline faces stringent challenges for ethical consideration, economic stability, and the need to build diverse and inclusive communities the need for research that is applicable to these concerns is of the utmost importance. We value all our contributors, reviewers, and supporters for recognizing that the need for applied science in public relations that can improve the foundation of research as well as the outcomes of the practice.

In the first article, Conceptualizing Employee Engagement in China: “It’s A State of Fit,” Dr. Hongmei Shen & Dr. Chunbo Ren explore employee engagement through a non-Western lens to support a three-dimensional conceptual framework. It is important that the field of public relations explores both theoretical and practical implications from a global perspective. Through qualitative research, the authors explore cultural nuances and the professional connections of Chinese public relations practitioners.

Dr. Phillip Arceneaux, Dr. Osama Albishri, Ekaterina Romanova, Hadeel Alhaddadeh, Brianne Hendricks & Dr. Spiro Kiousis’ article Election Mudslinging, from the Bayou to the Swamp: Assessing Agenda-Building in the 2019 Louisiana Gubernatorial Runoff Election explores agenda-building through a computational content analysis. This study examines the impact of political endorsements on the media agenda amid an influential election.

In Political Campaign Messages on Facebook: A Study of Public Engagement, Social Presence Strategies, and the 2018 U.S. Senate Elections, Dr. Imran Mazid investigates the relationships between social presence strategies, vividness, and engagement of Facebook data of Democratic and Republican Senate candidates. The study extends knowledge of social presence theory and how connected people are through online settings. This is especially critical when evaluating political candidates and comparing differences such as party and gender.

Finally, in Words, Money, or Action? How Corporate Social Advocacy Drove Media Coverage in Response to the Black Lives Matter Protests of 2020, Kyle A. Heatherly, Sung-Un Yang, Nicholas Browning, & Eugene Kim, identify corporate responses following the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officers and the nationwide Black Lives Matters protests. The authors investigate how corporate leadership, authenticity, and responses are connected to determine what factors generated the most favorable earned media for companies. Results indicate that those that communicated strongly and quickly on this issue achieved more impactful media coverage.

I would like to extend my deepest thanks to the following reviewers for their service on this issue:

Dr. John Brummette, Radford University
Dr. Amiso George, Texas Christian University
Dr. Spiro Kiousis, University of Florida
Dr. Laura L. Lemon, University of Alabama
Dr. Diana Martinelli, West Virginia University
Dr. Dean Mundy, University of Oregon
Dr. Weiting Tao, University of Miami
Dr. Patrick Thelen, San Diego State University

Thank you for reading and for your support for Public Relations Journal.

Hilary Fussell Sisco, Ph.D., APR
Editor-in-Chief

Conceptualizing Employee Engagement in China: "It's a State of Fit"

Chunbo Ren, Ph.D., Central Michigan University
Hongmei Shen, Ph.D., APR, San Diego State University

Election Mudslinging, from the Bayou to the Swamp: Assessing Agenda-Building in the 2019 Louisiana Gubernatorial Runoff Election

Phillip Arceneaux, Ph.D., Miami University of Ohio
Osama Albishri, Ph.D., King Abdulaziz University
Ekaterina Romanova, University of Florida
Hadeel Alhaddadeh, University of Florida
Brianne Hendricks, University of Louisiana at Lafayette
Spiro Kiousis, Ph.D., APR, University of Florida

Political Campaign Messages on Facebook: A Study of Public Engagement, Social Presence Strategies, and the 2018 U.S. Senate Elections

Imran Mazid, Ph.D., Grand Valley State University

Words, Money, or Action? How Corporate Social Advocacy Drove Media Coverage in Response to the Black Lives Matter Protests of 2020

Kyle A. Heatherly, MSSc, Cision
Sung-Un Yang, Ph.D., Indiana University, Bloomington
Nicholas Browning, Ph.D., Indiana University, Bloomington
Eugene Kim, M.A., Indiana University, Bloomington