Abstract
Research on engagement and relationships in the public relations literature tends to focus on individual stakeholders’ psychological states or traits. Researchers have not fully considered how stakeholders’ social environments impact their engagement with organizations. To advance theorizing on engagement and relationships, this study considers stakeholders’ social environments by examining the social ties they activate when engaging with an organization. Thus, we propose and examine the Integrated Network Model of Engagement to understand the stakeholder side of engagement. Through an egocentric network survey, we identify multiple sources of influence on indicators and outcomes of engagement, and assess the relationship between engagement indicators and outcomes. Results suggest that stakeholders’ network structures positively associated with indicators of relational engagement and outcomes of engagement, specifically OPR. On the other hand, the composition of stakeholders’ networks consistently had mixed associations with engagement indicators and outcomes. We argue it is critical for public relations scholars to account for these complexities and for practitioners to understand stakeholders’ social environments when attempting to engage them.
Original language | English (US) |
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Article number | 102291 |
Journal | Public Relations Review |
Volume | 49 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Mar 2023 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:The authors would like to thank and acknowledge Dr. Daniel Riffe for his generous research support for the survey, as well as Curtis and Clayton from the study site for their willingness to help us survey congregants. ☆ This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Authors
Keywords
- Engagement
- Relationship management
- Relationships
- Religious organization
- Social network analysis