Papers by Margalit Toledano
Routledge eBooks, Oct 21, 2019
for consideration for the Philosophy of Management conference, 25-28 June 2018, University of Gre... more for consideration for the Philosophy of Management conference, 25-28 June 2018, University of Greenwich, London David McKie, Margalit Toledano
Routledge eBooks, Feb 17, 2015
This chapter introduces the issue of public relations in deeply divided societies. Most empirical... more This chapter introduces the issue of public relations in deeply divided societies. Most empirical studies of public relations focus on the activity as it is practiced within ‘normal’ liberal democratic societies. This has had a hegemonic influence on attempts within the academy to theorize public relations with the dominance of theory and models from US scholars being a notable feature. This raises the important question of the extent to which the theory building, and ensuing public relations/communication models developed in these ‘normal’ societies have an application to the many countries in the world which are divided by deep societal cleavages along racial, ethnic, religious or linguistic lines. As this chapter shows, a key purpose of this text is to not only reflect on this question but turn it around and explore how public relations practice in divided, conflict and post-conflict societies may contribute to theory building in the field of public relations more generally. More...
International Public Relations, 2016
Netnography Unlimited, 2021
PR practitioners and scholar researchers seek insights into the communicative processes and exper... more PR practitioners and scholar researchers seek insights into the communicative processes and experiences of such different organizational stakeholders as customers, investors, donors, volunteers, activists, local communities, and government agencies. Each group of stakeholders is based on different socio-cultural norms and meanings that should be gauged and understood via formative research to enable effective communication and trustworthy relationships between organizations, their stakeholders and society. Current PR practice, however, rather than undertaking more formative research, concentrates on evaluative research designed to provide evidence for PR’s impact on the organization’s bottom line. By embracing evaluative social media analytics, PR practitioners further support efforts to put organizational interests first. Both the online and offline prioritizing of organization interests clash with the growing movement in PR scholarship for PR to shift away from the functionalist self-interest of organizations and toward fulfilling PR’s proclaimed commitment to contribute to fully functioning society (Heath 2018). In supporting that movement, this chapter shares experiences from two studies to demonstrate the potential of netnography to contribute to contemporary pro-social PR.
Keywords: Netnography, public relations, social media
Aims and scope Communication ethics is a discipline that supports communication practitioners by ... more Aims and scope Communication ethics is a discipline that supports communication practitioners by offering tools and analyses for the understanding of ethical issues. Moreover, the speed of change in the dynamic information environment presents new challenges, especially for communication practitioners. Ethics used to be a specialist subject situated within schools of philosophy. Today it is viewed as a language and systematic thought process available to everyone. It encompasses issues of care and trust, social responsibility and environmental concern and identifies the values necessary to balance the demands of performance today with responsibilities tomorrow. For busy professionals, CE is a powerful learning and teaching approach that encourages analysis and engagement with many constituencies, enhancing relationships through open-thinking. It can be used to improve organization performance as well as to protect individual well-being.
The International Encyclopedia of Strategic Communication, 2018
Public Relations Review, 2017
Dialogue and persuasive strategic communication are often perceived by public relations scholars ... more Dialogue and persuasive strategic communication are often perceived by public relations scholars as two distinct approaches to the practice. After revisiting and reassessing debates surrounding the two approaches, this article introduces accounts of the use of dialogue and strategic communication in the political life of Martin Buber, whose philosophy has inspired PR scholarship on dialogue. It traces Buber's writings and activities as communicator in the service of the early Zionist movement and, in his later life, as campaigner against the establishment of the State of Israel, and as promoter of dialogue between Zionists and Arab Palestinians. Based on archival research the article uncovers Buber's political and PR work to provide insights into his philosophy in the context of his political and life experiences. Inspired by Buber's work the article argues that dialogue and strategic communication both have the potential to be deployed ethically, and for prosocial causes, or to be deployed in a self-serving and unethical way. In this, it supports other scholars' argument that public relations should reconcile with the fact that both are legitimate tools and it further argues that both might be used either ethically or unethically. It concludes that ethical PR practice depends less on the form of communication, and more on transparency, honesty, openness, and respect in the way dialogue or strategic communication are conducted.
Public Relations Review, 2016
In this article we present findings from an empirical study on facilitators of community networks... more In this article we present findings from an empirical study on facilitators of community networks who use an online platform to manage offline community interactions. Inspired by the centrality of community and community building concepts in the public relations literature (Hallahan, 2013), we argue that the role of PR in facilitating community networks deserves scholarly investigation. Based on a survey and interview material, our study finds that current democratic and inclusive networks might operate with no help from professional PR services, but network facilitators, who are not trained in public relations, use PR skills. Finally, we conclude that, on ethical and reputational grounds, PR practitioners should not exploit online/offline networks to influence the network members by promoting organizational interests in ways that may damage communities.
Public Relations Review, 2018
Abstract Public relations scholars have called for a shift from organization-centred approaches a... more Abstract Public relations scholars have called for a shift from organization-centred approaches and practices to community, – or collective-based ones. With the Internet, the latter have become more frequent although under-researched or not well understood. This article addresses those gaps by researching a community-based campaign in New Zealand and by underpinning the research with collective action theory. Methodologically, it combines netnography, thematic analysis, and interviews with major players, to analyze a civic crowdfunding campaign. It provides an account of how two amateur activists not only initiated and managed this campaign, but also raised US$1.5 million (NZ$2.27) within three weeks to buy a private beach and gift it back to the New Zealand public. The article seeks to add to both PR scholarship and practice. It adds to the former by analysing the campaign and identifying success factors for civic crowdfunding campaigns more generally; and to the latter by accounting for a different kind of activist and community-based PR that goes beyond organization-centred approaches to offer gratifying community-centered work that improves the reputation of PR for contributing to the common good.
The International Encyclopedia of Strategic Communication
Ethical space, 2011
This paper examines ethical implications in the use of social media by professional communicators... more This paper examines ethical implications in the use of social media by professional communicators. Using its research into the experiences of New Zealand practitioners, it identifies major ethical challenges for the profession. It also illustrates how social media intensify ethical issues that public relations has struggled with in the off-line world. At the same time, it shows how social media open opportunities for increasing practitioner influence on organisational ethics in ways long desired by traditional practitioners and recently advocated by public relations academics. It concludes that, despite enabling a lack of transparency and easier deception, social media can help public relations both improve ethical communication with stakeholders, and gain a greater ethical leadership role.
Semantically, radical derives from 'radix', the Latin for root. This paper argues that little pub... more Semantically, radical derives from 'radix', the Latin for root. This paper argues that little public relations research goes back to the roots of actual practice and addresses this neglect through a project focusing on practitioner accounts of their work. When considering public relations ethics, practitioner self-images and cultural values become an essential research component. In addressing this neglected area of research, this paper examines the subjective perceptions of public relations practitioners regarding their role, commitments, and responsibilities within the framework of their specific culture and national history. In considering practitioner testimonials about professional integrity, beliefs, and goals, especially as members of the society and nation to which they belong, the paper engages with ethical aspects of the practice from a cultural perspective that assumes different cultures can have different ethical expectations. In revealing the impact of features that are often 'taken for granted' in one country, the paper uses the example of four generations of practitioners who served one major institution in Israel to suggest how similar research at the professional roots in other nations might enable knowledge of international similarities and differences in relation to ethics in action.
Frontiers in Communication
Opinion polls have documented a considerable public skepticism towards a COVID-19 vaccine. Seekin... more Opinion polls have documented a considerable public skepticism towards a COVID-19 vaccine. Seeking to address the vaccine skepticism challenge this essay surveys the research on vaccine hesitancy and trust building through the lens of the rhetorical situation and points towards five broad principles for a content strategy for public health communicators in regards to vaccination: 1) vaccine hesitancy is not irrational per se; 2) messages should be tailored to the various hesitancy drivers; 3) what is perceived as trustworthy is situational and constantly negotiated; 4) in areas of uncertainty where no exact knowledge exists, the character of the speaker becomes more important; and 5) the trustworthiness of the speaker can be strengthened through finding some common ground—such as shared feelings or accepted premises—with the audience. Such common insights are on offer in the literature on rhetoric and persuasion and linked here with the research on vaccine communication and trust fo...
Journal of Communication Management
PurposeThe paper identifies a role for public relations in disaster management by analysing disas... more PurposeThe paper identifies a role for public relations in disaster management by analysing disaster and communication managers' understanding of community resilience and their use of communication in the context of two different cultural environments.Design/methodology/approachThe research study comprised 51 in-depth qualitative interviews with disaster managers in Sri Lanka and New Zealand, which were thematically analysed using the software programme NVivo 10.FindingsThe study identified cultural differences in Sri Lanka and New Zealand that impact on how managers' communicate in natural disaster situations. The findings indicated that public relations’ understanding of communities’ cultures, their communication, networking and lobbying skills could further enhance the effectiveness of efforts to build community resilience to disasters.Research limitations/implicationsNations are complex multicultural realities; the findings cannot be generalized to make claims about how ...
Social Marketing Quarterly
Background: This article is the first to explore the emergence and evolution of social marketing ... more Background: This article is the first to explore the emergence and evolution of social marketing as a professional practice in Aotearoa New Zealand [1] (NZ). Focus of the Article: The article identifies key political factors enabling the emergence, and causing the decline, of social marketing in NZ. Research Question: What are the factors that practitioners of social marketing identify as most influential on its development in NZ? Importance to the Social Marketing Field: The article makes a unique contribution to the growing literature on the history of social marketing in different jurisdictions by providing the first account of how social marketing evolved in NZ and by identifying the crucial role of political factors. Methods: The research is based on appreciative inquiry-based interviews with 20 experienced social marketers and a review of key documents. Because the field in NZ is small, it was possible to interview almost all of the leading figures. Results: This study constru...
Public Relations Review
Abstract Positioning the present as an age of interdisciplinarity, we explore the potential for d... more Abstract Positioning the present as an age of interdisciplinarity, we explore the potential for development through selected intersections, primarily with PR and social marketing. We situate this exploration in the further context of the contemporaneous search for what some management theorists have called soul. In the process, as well as contributing to the PR and social marketing bodies of knowledge, we seek to clarify academic deliberations about selecting productive and prosocial interdisciplinary intersections. To begin to illustrate parallel process in practice, we embed practitioner perspectives in an account of social marketing in Aotearoa New Zealand 1 . Our intent is to look for ways in which both scholars and practitioners could get better at it. We conclude by suggesting that intersecting with social marketing can also help PR tackle three major and continuing issues: methods, outcome evaluations, and reputation.
Public Relations Review
In this article we investigate the under researched interface between two sets of professional ad... more In this article we investigate the under researched interface between two sets of professional advocates. We focus on public relations practitioner collaboration and competition with lawyers and the issues these professionals confront in the process of reaching consensus about the client's best interest. Our research covers PR professionals and lawyers in two countries-New Zealand and Israeland uses interviews with 29 informants to identify the conditions for collaboration. We also record how both groups have significant concerns about the impact of the new communication environment on the future of their professions. Our findings highlight major issues that help explain the inter-professional relationships. They also suggest future directions for the practice of law and PR and for further scholarly investigation of the topic.
Uploads
Papers by Margalit Toledano
Keywords: Netnography, public relations, social media
Keywords: Netnography, public relations, social media