2008 PROCEEDINGS - Public Relations Society of America
2008 PROCEEDINGS - Public Relations Society of America
2008 PROCEEDINGS - Public Relations Society of America
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However, many inside the public relations pr<strong>of</strong>ession lament the lackadaisical posture<br />
that PR practitioners take in response to Web 2.0 opportunities. One prominent PR blogger<br />
labeled public <strong>Relations</strong> practitioners as hopelessly out <strong>of</strong> touch with today's revolution in PR<br />
technology (in Sinkinson, 2007). Researchers have, in the past, labeled public relations<br />
practitioners "laggards" when it comes to acceptance and use <strong>of</strong> technology (Porter et al., 2001).<br />
Moreover, a recent study examining the effects <strong>of</strong> practitioner blog use on power in public<br />
relations found that even though practitioners clearly see the importance <strong>of</strong> blogs, less than 10%<br />
<strong>of</strong> respondents reported writing/maintaining a blog, and <strong>of</strong> those only 23% were blogging as a<br />
part <strong>of</strong> their job (Porter et al. 2006).<br />
Descriptive “state <strong>of</strong> technology” reports from the public relations sector dot the<br />
academic journal landscape (see Pavlik & Dozier, 1996; Pavlik, 2007 Porter & Sallot, 2003;<br />
Porter et al., 2001; Sallot & Porter, 2004; Wright, 2001). A 1992 study indicated that clearly<br />
technology adoption and use were important issues on the pr<strong>of</strong>essional agenda <strong>of</strong> public relations<br />
(Anderson & Reagan). However, researchers expressed concern that practitioners have not kept<br />
pace with other management disciplines in their uses <strong>of</strong> such technologies as word processing,<br />
electronic mail, data bases, budgeting s<strong>of</strong>tware and statistical s<strong>of</strong>tware packages. Pre-dot-com<br />
researcher Merton Fiur (1986) argued that practitioners must shorten their technology learning<br />
curves in order to keep from being isolated from the mainstream <strong>of</strong> management decision<br />
making.<br />
An IMT Strategies Report (2000) surveyed 100 public relations pr<strong>of</strong>essionals to define<br />
the impact the Internet was having on the pr<strong>of</strong>ession. Results indicated that although new<br />
technologies provided the ability to communicate with more targeted audiences and more media,<br />
public relations pr<strong>of</strong>essionals had yet to use these new technologies to their full potential, or even<br />
understand the impact the internet could have on the field. In a 2006 survey <strong>of</strong> corporate<br />
executives (Goodman, 2006), only a small number <strong>of</strong> business leaders were convinced that<br />
corporate blogging was growing as a communication medium (5%), a brand-building technique<br />
(3%), or a sales/lead generation tool (1%). Moreover, early half <strong>of</strong> senior executives polled did<br />
not have corporate policies pertaining to blogging, although 77% believe that their organization<br />
should have such policies.<br />
There is a concurrent need to examine the applicability <strong>of</strong> technology acceptance models<br />
in the public relations sector and a need for increased knowledge and research on Web 2.0<br />
technologies among public relations pr<strong>of</strong>essionals. It is these two identified gaps in knowledge<br />
that this research aimed to address.<br />
While Web 2.0 describes a technology cluster (Rogers, 2003) <strong>of</strong> online communication<br />
and networking tools (blogging, podcasting, web video, content syndication (RSS), wikis, virtual<br />
worlds, and social networking), blogging is selected for this study as a baseline indicator <strong>of</strong><br />
acceptance and use for all Web 2.0 technologies for three reasons: (1) blogging is the "elder<br />
statesman" <strong>of</strong> the Web 2.0 technologies and thus could have the highest awareness and interest<br />
among public relations practitioners; (2) blogging best fits Grunig's two-way, symmetrical model<br />
<strong>of</strong> communication for public relations pr<strong>of</strong>essional and thus would arguably have the highest<br />
practical value to working practitioners and ; (3) blogging perhaps represents the lowest common<br />
denominator in terms <strong>of</strong> technological skills and training required for its deployment and use<br />
among practitioners.<br />
While technology acceptance and utilization research is common in mature fields such as<br />
MIS, decision science and information systems, economics, agriculture, management, and<br />
marketing, its application to public relations and corporate communications has never been<br />
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