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From Aardvark to Zebra:

A New Millennium Analysis of Theory Development

 in Public Relations Academic Journals



by

Lynne M. Sallot, Ph.D., APR, Fellow PRSA, Associate Professor
University of Georgia

Lisa J. Lyon, Ph.D., Assistant Professor
Kennesaw State University

Carolina Acosta-Alzuru, Ph.D., Assistant Professor
University of Georgia

Karyn Ogata Jones, Ph.D. Student
University of Georgia




Submitted to the Public Relations Division of

the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication

April 1, 2001

Please direct correspondence to Lynne Sallot, 630 Sandstone Dr., Athens, GA, 30605,
e-mail <a href="/cgi-bin/wa?LOGON=A3%3Dind0109B%26L%3DAEJMC%26E%3D8bit%26P%3D8763244%26B%3D--%253D%253D%253D%253D%253D%253D%253D%253D%253D%253D%253D%253D%253D%253D%253D%253D%253D%253D%253D%253D%253D_279737711%253D%253D_%26T%3Dtext%252Fplain%3B%2520charset%3Diso-8859-1" >[log in to unmask]</a>, phone (706) 208-0941.  (Please note summer phone after May 10 is expected to be (561) 229-0692, e-mail address remains the same).      Abstract

From Aardvark to Zebra: A New Millennium Analysis of
 Theory Development in Public Relations Academic Journals

by Lynne M. Sallot, Ph.D., APR, Fellow PRSA, Associate Professor, University of Georgia
Lisa J. Lyon, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Kennesaw State University
Carolina Acosta-Alzuru, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, University of Georgia
Karyn Ogata Jones, Ph.D. Student, University of Georgia

Submitted to the Public Relations Division of
the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication
April 1, 2001

        In a replication and extension of a 1984 study by Ferguson to investigate the status of theory building by public relations scholars, 747 abstracts and/or articles published in Public Relations Review, Journal of Public Relations Research and its predecessor Public Relations Research Annual, since their inceptions through the year 2000, were subjected to content analysis.  Nearly 20 percent of articles analyzed were found to have contributed to theory development in public relations compared to only 4 percent in Ferguson's study.  Theory was most prevalent in articles about excellence/symmetry, public relationships, ethics and social responsibility, crisis response, critical-cultural, Feminism/diversity and international topics.  These and interdisciplinary influences are expected to continue to contribute to ever more theory building in public relations.










From Aardvark to Zebra:

A New Millennium Analysis of Theory Development

 in Public Relations Academic Journals














Submitted to the Public Relations Division of

the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication

April 1, 2001

Abstract

From Aardvark to Zebra: A New Millennium Analysis of
 Theory Development in Public Relations Academic Journals

Submitted to the Public Relations Division of
the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication
April 1, 2001

        In a replication and extension of a 1984 study by Ferguson to investigate the status of theory building by public relations scholars, 747 abstracts and/or articles published in Public Relations Review, Journal of Public Relations Research and its predecessor Public Relations Research Annual, since their inceptions through the year 2000, were subjected to content analysis.  Nearly 20 percent of articles analyzed were found to have contributed to theory development in public relations compared to only 4 percent in Ferguson's study.  Theory was most prevalent in articles about excellence/symmetry, public relationships, ethics and social responsibility, crisis response, critical-cultural, Feminism/diversity and international topics.  These and interdisciplinary influences are expected to continue to contribute to ever more theory building in public relations.


Introduction and Purpose
        What is the status of theory building by public relations scholars?  In 1984, Mary Ann Ferguson, grounding her work in Kuhn (1970), analyzed nearly ten years' worth of abstracts of articles published in public relations' then-sole academic journal, Public Relations Review.  Ferguson concluded that there had not been much productive theory development at all.  She identified three foci that she predicted held great potential for theory development: social responsibility and ethics, social issues and issue management, and public relationships.  She argued the latter, in which the unit of study is the relationships between organizations and their publics, offered "the most opportunity for a paradigm focus to speed the development of theory in this field" (Ferguson, 1984, p. ii).  Ferguson presented her findings to the Public Relations Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication.  Although her paper has been widely cited (see, for example, Cancel, Cameron, Sallot & Mitrook, 1997; Grunig, 1993; Heath, 2001), it was never published.