The IABC Handbook of Organizational Communication: A Guide to Internal Communication, Public Relations, Marketing, and Leadership

Public Relations Impact on Return on Investment

Any communications manager will inevitably need to account for how the information (data) obtained from research is to be used in making organizational decisions. As previously discussed, much of what public relations researches is labeled “nonfinancial indicators.” That is, public relations is often seen as important for establishing expectations from which behaviors will occur.

Contemporary public relations research typically concentrates on five generalized variables: confidence, credibility, relationship, reputation, and trust. Thus, public relations researchers now have the ability to conceptualize relationships to the organization as found in Figure 22.3, and even as a mathematical regression ...