2009 PROCEEDINGS - Public Relations Society of America
2009 PROCEEDINGS - Public Relations Society of America
2009 PROCEEDINGS - Public Relations Society of America
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pr<strong>of</strong>essional values. In this regard, the exploration <strong>of</strong> PR students’ values as future<br />
practitioners might be considered as no less important than the examination <strong>of</strong> PR<br />
pr<strong>of</strong>essionals’ values.<br />
Northouse (2007) argued that although everyone has ethical responsibilities,<br />
leaders have a special—greater—responsibility: Values promoted by them have an<br />
impact on organizational values. Kruckeberg (1998) said that public relations as a<br />
pr<strong>of</strong>essional area is ideological, “with its own set <strong>of</strong> pr<strong>of</strong>essional values and beliefs as<br />
well as its own theories <strong>of</strong> society and humankind” (p. 244). According to Abbott (1988),<br />
pr<strong>of</strong>essions grow, split, join, adapt, and die. He argued that for students <strong>of</strong> the<br />
pr<strong>of</strong>essions, focusing on forms <strong>of</strong> pr<strong>of</strong>essional life—association, licensure, and ethics<br />
code—missed the contents <strong>of</strong> pr<strong>of</strong>essional activity—“who was doing what to whom and<br />
how” (p. 1) as well as “a fundamental fact <strong>of</strong> pr<strong>of</strong>essional life—interpr<strong>of</strong>essional<br />
competition” (p. 2).<br />
In this light, it is important to understand the pr<strong>of</strong>essions as an interdependent and<br />
competitive system. As an example, Abbott mentioned journalists’ efforts to formalize<br />
the pr<strong>of</strong>essional structure in the 1920s in the U.S. under the pressure <strong>of</strong> competition with<br />
publicity agents. Abbott suggested that “mobility between journalism and public relations<br />
is quite common” (p. 225). Thus, competition between the two occupations over<br />
“jurisdiction,” or control over areas <strong>of</strong> work might be taken as the key to their<br />
development. However, journalism is not the only pr<strong>of</strong>ession with which public relations<br />
competes. The circle <strong>of</strong> challengers is not limited to “outsiders” (e.g., journalism). As the<br />
literature suggest (Berger & Reber, 2006), company “insiders” such as marketing, law, or<br />
human resources departments also encroach into public relations, meaning that other<br />
pr<strong>of</strong>essionals are assigned to perform the public relations manager role (Lee, Jares, &<br />
Heath, 1999).<br />
A pr<strong>of</strong>ession as a social institution is responsible for promoting and sustaining<br />
certain values, and a pr<strong>of</strong>essional ethics governs in a field (Wueste, 1994): “Because they<br />
pr<strong>of</strong>ess, pr<strong>of</strong>essionals ask that they be trusted” (p. 7). Acknowledging the importance <strong>of</strong><br />
values in PR practitioners’ pr<strong>of</strong>essional practice, the final research question is proposed:<br />
RQ3: What are students’ perceptions <strong>of</strong> the three most important values for PR leaders?<br />
Method<br />
Participants. The purpose <strong>of</strong> this study is to investigate student interpretations <strong>of</strong> such<br />
notions as leaders and leadership in public relations. The sample included 196 <strong>America</strong>n<br />
public relations majors (67 males and 129 females). The students were recruited from an<br />
introductory PR course and two upper-level PR courses at a large southeastern university<br />
with more than 500 PR majors.<br />
Participant ages ranged from 18 to 29, with a mean <strong>of</strong> 20 years old (SD=1.74).<br />
The majority <strong>of</strong> <strong>America</strong>n participants (108/196) were 19 and 20 years old. The sample<br />
consisted <strong>of</strong> 20 freshmen, 65 sophomores, 63 juniors, and 48 seniors.<br />
Students completed the survey outside <strong>of</strong> class time and received modest credit<br />
for their participation. According to statistical data, about 73% <strong>of</strong> all PR students in this<br />
university were females in 2007. This number also is consistent with the overall figure <strong>of</strong><br />
females (70%) in the public relations field in the United States (Aldoory & Toth, 2002).<br />
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