Business perceptions of public relations in New Zealand

Purpose – This research aims to describe business perceptions of public relations (PR) in New Zealand. It also intends to provide insights which will assist the Public Relations Institute of New Zealand (PRINZ) to achieve its mission “to promote PR as a reputable, dynamic profession”. Design/methodology/approach – Senior management from 28 of New Zealand's top 200 companies completed a questionnaire and participated in a 45‐minute interview to explore definitions of PR and its place in their organisations. A symbolic interactionist methodology was utilised to analyse the findings. Findings – The study finds that CEOs had a low opinion of public relations practitioners. They tended to see PR as an integral part of doing business. They also saw reputation management as best conducted by themselves rather than a consultancy – except in a crisis. A clear distinction was made between PR (consultancy based) and corporate communication (in‐house). None of the companies used the term PR in their in‐house communications titles. Communications managers distanced themselves from PR, claiming instead to offer integrity‐based, transparent communication. Marketers saw PR as serving marketing. CFOs and Legal Counsel saw PR as serving strategic objectives but were sceptical about the competence of communications practitioners to deliver strategic communication. Research limitations/implications – Despite a very good response rate (66.7 per cent) the base was uneven in terms of geographic spread and category of organisation. Since this is a descriptive study links between observations and contributing factors can be suggested but do not establish causality. This study did not extend to the public sector that employs a number of PR practitioners in New Zealand especially in Wellington. Practical implications – Larger businesses in New Zealand are wary of the term PR. Should the profession abandon the name or fight for a new definition? Communication is definitely part of senior management decision making in New Zealand but PR and communication practitioners need to demonstrate their value if they want to participate at this level. PRINZ can assist the promotion of PR by professionalising the practitioners and by influencing the training of the increasing number of PR graduates who are being introduced to the industry. Originality/value – No such study has been completed in New Zealand so this study will provide a comparison with UK, US and European studies of perceptions of PR. This study aligns with the Murray and White study of CEO views of reputation management in that it gathers data from senior management.