"Digitalization is fundamentally changing media ecosystems and posing ethical challenges for media and communication practitioners. One of the professions affected is public relations (PR), which today can analyze target groups based on their digital data traces or spread messages via paid digital c
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hannels. Although these practices are effective, they raise ethical concerns. However, it remains unclear whether PR practitioners around the world perceive such practices as morally challenging and whether their perceptions are shaped by individual dispositions or national backgrounds. This study analyzed data collected in 4 cross-national surveys involving 5,970 communication practitioners from 52 countries. Results from multilevel modeling indicate that individual predispositions, that is, personal values and beliefs and age, influence ethical perceptions far more than national context. These findings are interpreted as an indicator of the ongoing globalization of PR ethics, which presumably leads to similar perceptions in different regions." (Abstract)
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"Social Media and Crisis Communication provides a unique and timely contribution to the field of crisis communication by addressing how social media are influencing the practice of crisis communication. The book, with a collection of chapters contributed by leading communication researchers, covers
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the current and emerging interplay of social media and crisis communication, recent theories and frameworks, overviews of dominant research streams, applications in specific crisis areas, and future directions. Both the theoretical and the practical are discussed, providing a volume that appeals to both academic-minded readers as well as professionals at the managerial, decision-making level. The audience includes public relations and corporate communication scholars, graduate students studying social media and crisis communication, researchers, crisis managers working in communication departments, and business leaders who make strategic business communication planning. No other volume has provided the overarching synthesis of information regarding the field of crisis communication and social media that this book contains. Incorporated in this volume is the recent Social-mediated Crisis Communication Model developed by the editors and their co-authors, which serves as a framework for crisis and issues management in a rapidly evolving media landscape." (Publisher description)
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